Vampyr: The Blood Cry
by Lyson
Summary: /Original Reviews 54/ Beneath Moscow an evil grows threatening to devour slowly. Tala wants vengeance like he's never known before & he will not stop until he's gotten it, every stolen drop of it. He finds an ally in a stranger who is nothing so ordinary as he appears to be, he knows he shouldn't trust him but better the devil you know. Two sides, one end, little time. AU/Vampires
1. Москва

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters.

Warnings: Profanity, mild violence and yaoi

**AN: Please refer to my profile page for explanation on re-uploading and future uploading.**

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**Москва́**

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The warm months had passed and snow had started falling, caking over the pavements, trees, cars and roofs of houses in suburban areas of Moscow. The temperature was below 0 degrees but the early night life Muscovites were out in their numbers on the popular Tverskoy District, surrounded by clubs, bars, theatres and public places.

It was beautiful.

Moscow city was huge and filled with life, even in winter the streets were busy until late evening before most people returned home. Night life. Laughter, drunkenness, dates and family get togethers…

Warm bodies, noisy types…attracting so much attention to the ever fragile states.

Human life, mortal life was indeed so fragile and yet they dared to go out, dared to take risks.

Vulnerable.

And none the wiser he supposed.

He – being a young man who grew up in Moscow, sat in a bench across a street from a busy open restaurant/bar. His pale blue eyes watched the people distantly, not really seeing them so much as just observing their surroundings.

Had he been as foolish or clueless as the general population he would have been there with them, laughing, joking…meeting friends and potential lovers..

Twenty one years old was meant to be the time for life, but the word 'life' no serious meaning for the young man with empty blue eyes. Where they saw joy and happiness…life, he only saw foolish naivety and walking prey.

How could millions of people be so clueless to what was around them?

Was oblivion truly so freeing?

He sighed quietly as a few cars passed by on the snowy street in between him and the large restaurant, one of hundreds in the busy area. There were people walking behind him, talking and enjoying their evening out as he sat with his legs crossed lightly, his long black coat closed around him. He kept his gloved hands in his pockets and sat slightly hunched, his mouth covered by a grey scarf.

He took a moment to close his eyes before he stood up, bringing him to his not too unimpressive 5 foot 9, although he'd met many taller men, he'd never felt smaller by any measure. He was lean, his coat was dark and highlighted his form, deceptive in looking weak when he in fact was very well built and structured, but not bulky, his frame being too slight to hold too much excess weight it was all trained wired muscle.

From the end of his calf length coat his tight black pant legs were not visible due to the combat boots that laced over them upward to just below his knee.

His small movement in standing caught some attention from the people loitering around the bench he'd been sitting on out of the light of a street lamp.

He knew why they stared, he lacked the standard black, brown and blonde hair of his fellow Muscovites. While he was as pale as any of them, his hair was a shocking blood color, deep yet outstanding red in the night lights, but a striking dark copper red in sunlight.

It was natural and though no one ever thought so at first, his similar colored eyebrows left people sceptical.

He didn't look at anyway, keeping his pale eyes focussed ahead of him as he started to walk, stepping off the pavement and walking along the road side, sparing the occasional glance at a car as it went by.

It didn't get any quieter as he walked along the road a head ache formed slowly and surely. It was a product of the previous night spent in misery and mourn, as was the dark rings under his tear burned eyes. He subtly sniffed as he turned a corner and saw his red Chevrolet aveo sedan parked where he'd left it an hour ago.

He walked up to the driver side and slipped a gloved hand from his pocket with his key, he unlocked the car and slipped inside quickly, closing the door quickly once he was in.

He took a moment to breathe before turning on the ignition and then the car heat, blinking tiredly he leaned back against his seat. Life was so fragile.

He tried not to think of the funeral he'd been to earlier that day, he tried so hard not to think of the two boxes that were lowered into useless plots in the ground. He blinked and felt a few tears slip from his eyes, warm on his cold reddened skin, he sniffed again and pulled his glove off to wipe at his face with his shaking pale hand.

It hurt badly, in his chest, in his head and even though he knew it was physically impossible it felt like his heart was constricting.

He clenched his jaw as more tears fell from his eyes and all he could do was wipe them away, they served no real purpose because they could not undo the loss he'd suffered.

Swallowing hard and fighting back more tears, he decided the car had been idling long enough to warm up, he removed his second glove and tossed them both onto the passenger seat where his lap top bag rested.

He pulled off from the curb slowly and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as he slowly drove down the road to the stop street corner he'd walked by earlier.

On the back seat of his car were piles of papers and research books, files and all the like. They'd been there for as long as he'd had his car, since he'd received the car for his 18th birthday as a gift.

He became irritated when more tears blurred his vision slightly and he wiped them away, annoyed at how his hands were shaking, he gripped the steering tightly in both as he drove along the Tverskaya Street. He passed groups of young people going off into the dark park area and while some part of his urged him to get out of the car and stop them…another part of him was still to raw with grief and the image of the two dead bodies to stop the car.

He was just waiting for the anger to catch up with him…because the pain was disabling.

He didn't want to be useless, especially not then when he needed to be his strongest.

* * *

The drive to his apartment in the slight snow and busy traffic took longer than he would have liked but it felt like all he had was time, where was the rush? Once parked under his apartment building, he stepped sluggishly out of car, sighing heavily before reaching back in and grabbing his lap top bag and gloves off the passenger seat.

He bumped the door closed with his hip and locked the car absently, sort of just moving automatically, he was so tired.

People in the lobby looked at him, some who knew gave him sympathetic looks and others only saw the sombre expression and ashy skin as a sign of misery, which was as true as the ones who knew the details of his misery. He paid no mind to any one, walking to the elevators and jabbing the up button with his thumb, impatient but not interested in taking the stairs to the 6th floor like he usually did.

He was grateful when the silver doors opened and even more so when he realised it was empty, he stepped inside and avoided looing at his reflection all around him, he pressed the '6' so it lit up in orange before he leaned against the mirrored wall of the elevator, eyes downcast.

He felt his cell phone vibrate but ignored it.

He had been ignoring it for hours.

When he reached the sixth floor he pushed himself off the wall and dragged his feet along the passage floors, his boots scuffing as he did so, lap top bag bumping against his side from where it was slung over his shoulder. He reached the door to his one bedroom apartment and shifted his keys around his hand until he had the door key.

Inside was not very warm so he kicked the door shut and turned to the heat fixture, turning it up to the temperature he felt most comfortable at. He was never a heat seeking type.

Now that he was inside his exhaustion felt like it was a hundred times worse and his sigh was much louder. He'd had such a long day and it didn't want to end. He walked into his moderate sized living area, separated from the kitchen by a counter built into the wall, he vaguely noticed the kitchen light was on and he knew he hadn't turned it out that morning when he'd left the apartment.

That morning…the pain in his chest returned and he placed the lap top bag down on his computer desk, leaning with his hands either side for moment as he forced himself not to cry again.

The vibration of his cell phone brought him back and he stood up straight, slipping the silver device from his pocket he blinked a few times at the unknown caller blinking on his screen.

The last thing he needed was some random person to here the shaken distortion of his voice, he ended the call and on a second thought he just switched it off altogether, leaving it on the desk beside the bag and all of his un-organised papers.

He started unbuttoning his coat since the place was warmer, pulling it off his shoulders before tossing it over the back of his two seat couch, leaving him in jersey and his pants.

He hadn't eaten since the previous night and even though he was starving he didn't want to eat, he was too nauseous. He'd been taking calming pills all day and it left him with no small amount of heart burn, the last thing he'd had was tea before the wake.

Yet another thing he didn't want to think about, having to sit in a room full of people he didn't know and others he didn't care to while the closed coffins sat cold and lavishly decorated with flowers, parting items and photos. Smiling framed photos.

He'd refused to say anything even as his grandmother gave him dirty looks for it, he didn't feel like given respects to soulless bodies made any sense.

He'd loved them in life…and he would always love them but their time for being able to return or acknowledge that had passed, they had left the world.

His grandparents didn't understand, his cousins…his aunts and uncles all felt he was so disrespectful, also because he didn't approach the alter or coffins to even say anything to the photographs…he had photographs, hundreds of them.

From around the world, from when he was only a baby right up until a year ago when they'd been in Brazil.

He could look at photo's whenever he liked…it all made no difference.

He had wandered into his lit kitchen, which provided light for the living area where his TV was off and collecting dust, papers and cd's piled around it, a small hifi beside the TV cabinet was all he used really.

His two double couches looked similar, papers and text books, new papers and university pamphlets.

The place was a mess but he didn't care, as long as there were few dishes in his sink and the place was vacuumed once a week, like a spit clean, he felt it was liveable, especially since he was practically never there.

He let the sound of the electric kettle fill the silence with a sigh of relief, his ears had started to ring. He made his coffee automatically and at the last minute grabbed a pack of soup from the cupboard, he needed to eat something and he had the cramps to prove it.

Time passed slowly as he ate the soup in slow spoonful's, staring at the kitchen counter, not looking around the apartment, his mind was elsewhere. He was trying to push passed the buried bodies of the only two people he'd ever loved.

He was trying to focus on the situation, the circumstances and their murder.

He stared blankly for several moments when he remembered visiting the morgue to identify the bodies. Rigour mortis and the natural death greyness aside, they'd looked hollow and drained.

Then there were the marks in their flesh, precise pierced holes in their flesh, his mothers had been on her back of her lower neck, his fathers closer to the jugular.

He knew what had happened…they knew what was happening before they died.

He smiled with some pride at the bruises, flesh wounds and scratches that were on the bodies. To the police, their ordinary uneducated blissfully stupid minds, it appeared as if his parents had been hurt badly by the assailants.

But he knew better, bruises on their arms, shins and knuckles meant they'd been fighting…

He knew because that was what he had been trained to do since he was eleven.

His smile fell away and he ran a hand over his face, leaving the almost finished soup where it was, he trailed out of the kitchen and slid his fingers over the light switch as he left. Walking to the well known darkness of his apartment he walked into his bedroom and switched on the light.

It was no better in there, books and maps opened and scattered, the only place free of clutter was his bed, which looked heavenly right then. But he was cold and his skin felt damp from the snow on his clothes and face so he needed to take a shower first.

* * *

The hot water made his skin tint pink which was an improvement from the ashen colour, he pushed the wet hair back from his face as it became heavy and soaked, sliding over his neck to just above his shoulders. He had a unique hair cut and an even more unique way of wearing it. he'd often been told the way he styled it looked like mock horns or wings, which earned him much teasing in high school about thinking he was a devil or an angel.

He thought he was neither…and he respected neither.

After putting some shampoo in his hand he washed his hair slowly, massaging his scalp and relieving the pain for a moment, he felt so tense. The hot water was making his cold toes tingle and burn but he enjoyed the sensation, he enjoyed the burn.

After his hair he washed his body and then left the warm bathroom with a towel around his waist, he'd rubbed his hair dry and used his fingers to push it up and back into its trained style, it didn't stay perfect but after years it didn't protest to stay up. Some of it stuck to his nape and his face but he didn't really care, it'd dry when it dried.

In a daze he walked across the room, at some point finding boxers and a shirt in his drawers, he dressed himself and sat on the edge of his cold bed. The ringing in his ears starting up again as he sat in the silence. He stared at the carpeted floor for a while before deciding that he'd go to the house the following morning.

He pulled one bare leg up as he laid back on the bed,

"Maybe…" he mumbled as he closed his eyes, thinking of something else first but not for long as his exhaustion caught up with him quickly. At least he was too exhausted to cry himself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: In First Chapter**

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**Chapter 2**

**(If anyone has the chapter titles in their original order please message me)**

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When he woke the following day it was with a low groan and a hand finding its way out of some covers to press against the side of his pounding head. He made some sobbing sounds at the pain, but it was exaggerated and more of a whine. Pushing himself up and leaning to his side, using an arm for support, he opened his blood shot blue eyes and looked around his bedroom.

The curtains were still closed so thankfully the morning over cast light wasn't glaring directly at him, instead making his dark red drapes look like a dull maroon. It was still warm in the room, the heating was going to run his bill up like a mother fucker, but he didn't care, if he got kicked out he had a place to go.

_'You don't have to move Tala…we don't mind you living here. It's a family home after all.'_

He remembered the voice speaking those words three years ago almost as if it was speaking to him right then, so loudly in his head. But then it had been only five days since he'd last heard that voice…

To think he'd only just spoken to that calming, light voice a few days ago and now she was buried in a cold grave with an empty shell of rotting flesh…

The pain in his face and head came back, he needed to get some pain killers and the only way to do that was to get up.

Kicking the blanket off himself, he moved to get off the bed and almost stumbled on the crap littering his floor. He looked down at the cord of a printer running along the floor under his bed and probably to an extension cord on the other side.

He didn't even grumble and just stepped over it, this day would be long but he had purpose and he wouldn't worry about the silly small things like cords across his floor.

* * *

Having had another shower to warm himself up, Tala had cleaned up and dressed himself with almost no efficiency that morning. It was almost 11 30 when he left his apartment in a sluggish manner, wrapped in his coat, scarf and gloves with his lap top bag and a few files in his arms.

He had seen himself in the mirror and was aware he still looked like death but it was not his concern how he looked, he needed to drive to the other side of town and it was snowing quite a bit outside.

When he reached his car in the parking lot, shooting the car parked askew beside his a dirty look, he unlocked the vehicle and slipped in.

Turning on the ignition an idling the car he brushed a few of his loose bangs behind his ears, his hair style flaring above his head as usual, and he tried to organize himself mentally with a loud exhalation.

He grabbed the papers on the bag in the passenger seat and flipped through the sheets, finding reports, documentation and some pictures that didn't really depict much but had notes written and attached to them, making sure he had everything he needed…basically.

He knew what he was about to come up against and he wasn't looking forward to it.

* * *

After a slow drive and many snow stops and traffic lights, he finally arrived at his destination.

The wind was worse on this side of town where the buildings were higher and the river was closer and it whipped his coat quite harshly as he stepped out of the car in the open parking lot.

Grabbing his stuff and locking his car he walked quickly passed the expensive and older cars in the wide parking space, the building was ten stories high and the windows were all creepily large considering the older style of the building structure, dark brick with ridges and patterns in the design, one of the older and smaller buildings.

Reaching the large glass doors he stepped through when the door person pulled it open, it was quite busy here. He had never been to the place before, only heard it spoken of every day of his life, he'd never had to come here before but now there was a need.

It was a bit nerve wrecking walking passed some people dressed well and others dressed poorly in the large lobby space of the building, showing easily the different types of people who came by this sort of business place. People stared at him with his lap top bag and papers clutched tightly to him, his lithe form moving silently across space in his formal shoes with his white shirt, black pants and black coat.

He reached the large directory board near reception and let his eyes scan over the floors and companies on them, his eyes rested on the capital gold letters: M.P.I.O.

Moscow Paranormal Investigations Association

He turned around with a quick half spin and walked straight passed reception, ignoring the woman calling to him that he needed to sign in. He felt a rush in his system upon seeing those letters, this was it, after all those years of being kept out of all the real details, he was about to witness it.

He was lucky to get an elevator almost closing and avoid the woman getting to him, the two people in the elevator with him were stuffy and one of them smelled like moth balls. Tala stepped back against the grey wall and faced the panel of buttons, waiting for the 10th floor button to stop glowing.

When it finally did he hadn't realized he was alone in the elevator, when had the other people gotten out?

He mentally scowled himself for losing focus as he stepped out and was overwhelmed by the smell of incense, the kind burned in catholic churches. He remembered hearing about these people dealing mostly with ghosts, demons, incubi, succubae, possession demons and so on, evil sorts of things from the very history of Christianity.

But it only really sunk in when he focused his still slightly swollen and sore eyes on the front desk of the reception and he saw the large cross bolted into the front of the dark wood.

The words below also in a plaque bolted to the wood read '_Bono Malum Superate'_.

"Overcome evil with good…" He mumbled to himself.

"Excuse me…your jamming the elevator." A woman with a firm voice informed him and with a quick mumbled apology he was startled into moving out of the doorway.

She didn't look at him again as the doors slid closed and she was gone, he sighed and looked around more as he approached the desk.

It was very quiet, he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, maybe…demons screaming in the walls?

He deeply wished he hadn't been sheltered from the practical side of the lessons, because theory was only so good when it came time to be hands on.

As he reached the front desk, blinking his eyes against the over whelming smell around him, he regarded the middle aged woman behind the desk with an even gaze, not appearing to be in a hurry even though he was.

Even though he'd never heard things about the people here in very good light, they were never said to be useless or unreliable, he figured if anyone could help him…

"Can I help you?"

He snapped back and placed his files on the mid torso level desk top, looking down at the woman seated behind her computer, looking back up at him blankly,

"Yes please…" he used his best calm voice, it was smooth and just deep enough to sound confident when he spoke, "…I would like to speak with, um…I believe his last name is Dickenson."

She stared at Tala, while he wasn't being rude he sounded flat and apathetic, this mixed with his pale sickly appearance he was sure it made her worried.

Perhaps she thought him a demon.

He wasn't amused like he might have been a week ago, he had to get what he'd come there for, no joking around.

She was staring at him and he cleared his throat,

"Miss?" he clutched his bag tighter.

"Um, you mean Stanley Dickenson?" she answered quietly.

That sounded right, he nodded.

She nodded,

"I'll see if he's available, who may I say would like to see him?"

"Tala Ivanov." He noticed how her eyebrows raised briefly and then she looked away and picked up the phone.

He wasn't interested in listening to her so he turned away from the desk and walked a few steps, looking at the religious paintings on the clean white walls. It wasn't a sterile place so it didn't feel clean…instead it felt corrupt and empty somehow…hollow.

"Mr. Dickenson has asked me to send you through." He turned around and saw the woman standing and watching him with a forced smile.

He didn't return it and walked to the desk again, grabbing his files before following her gesture in the right direction, he walked to his left and into a corridor with few doors.

It wasn't hard to find the door with the man's name on a silver plaque on the door…with a cross beneath it. Tala knocked once and heard a mumbled 'enter', so he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

The office was not surprising, it felt cold and empty and creepy, much like the reception area. A larger cross on the back of the door made Tala do a quick double take and then there was the wall length painting of Jesus Christ on the cross. He blinked.

The office was large and yet Tala felt extremely claustrophobic, some of the things he'd heard at home over the years about the place suddenly made more sense.

Close minded, unwilling to consider…god fearing…blind…

"Please my boy…come in and sit…" a voice that had a very heavy underlining of cheer brought Tala's attention to the desk at the other end of the office. Standing at his chair on the far side of the desk was an old, short, round man in a tawny colored suit that didn't match his odd off white complexion and a red tie as well as small round glasses on his pudgy nose, his eyes were wrinkled at the edges, signs of smiling a lot -cheery-.

He stood with his hands behind his back and he had a look on his face, a look Tala assumed was meant to be sympathetic but something in the small grey eyes was very pleasant.

Tala didn't know if this was appropriate considering recent circumstances but he chose to see happiness as positivity only because Dickenson was his last resort.

He approached the chair that the man gestured to and Tala nodded to him before he took a seat opposite the bald man at the desk, who smiled slightly and sat, his eyes still looking as if he was stressing to convey his sadness.

Tala let his papers and lap top bag rest on his flat lap as he sat back but straight.

He didn't know where to start without mentioning off the bat that he wanted to find the **things **that killed his parents.

But he didn't have to start it off because Dickenson, who was sitting back, his hands on his belly in a small stubby fingered pyramid was staring at him intently as he started speaking,

"I am very sorry for your loss…" he said typically and Tala stared at him blankly, mouth set in a straight line at the empty condolences. Dickenson went on, "…but it is a pleasure to finally meet the highly talked about son of Stas and Ania Ivanov." He smiled now, apparently unable to help it.

Hearing his parents names just brought back images of dead skin and bite marks…

"You know, they were great travelers and uncovered many profitable and undocumented artifacts…" he went on.

Tala knew his parents had majored in ancient archaeology and history among other things when they were at University, he knew that they did basic work in finding items believed to be cursed and such but he also knew they had been doing more in their spare time…he knew his parents had seen things.

"They always spoke about how were going to-"

"Mr. Dickenson." Tala heard himself say as the cheery toned speaking halted and the man looked expectantly at him.

"Thank you for your kind words…however I'm not here for that." he conveyed his seriousness with his eyes.

The man smiled again despite Tala's stoic expression,

"No of course not…you have questions." Dickenson tipped his round head to one side sightly.

Tala nodded.

He stared a moment longer and then nodded,

"Shall we have tea?"

"No thank you." Tala said quickly and averted his gaze for a moment, he didn't need to be angry right then. He had to force it away, yelling at this man would get him nowhere.

"What is it you wish to ask ,Tala?"

He sighed and looked back at the man,

"My parents were **killed **Mr. Dickenson…" he started directly, "…this institution is the only place in Moscow that knows how they were killed besides me." He had intended to keep speaking when Dickenson intervened,

"That is incorrect."

Tala's heart almost stopped beating and he frowned questioningly at the lack of smile presented to him now.

"Your parents death has been ruled murder…by a purely sadistic…human being, or a few." He added the last bit with so much nonchalance it took everything Tala had not to start screaming at him about what an incredible load of horse shit that was.

Instead he let out a quiet sigh to calm himself, his jaw tightening before he spoke,

"The police do not know about the things we are aware of…the things you are aware of…" he started again.

"What **exactly** do you think killed your parents, Tala?" he again had that strained sympathetic look.

Tala narrowed his eyes, almost dreading saying it aloud,

"Vampire…" the pause of utter silence was almost insulting but Tala ignored it and went on, "…or more than one, my parents were skilled in several kinds of martial arts so they would have put up a good fight..." He started fiddling with the papers in his lap as his mind started stirring with everything he knew, "…they've gathered information here…stuff I'm sure they passed on to you. Vampires are strong but my parents…"

"Were killed by men…**real people**."

**Real**…what a word choice, what a direct insult to what Tala's parents believed.

The voice made Tala stop and it was then that he realized his breathing had sped up in his small panic, he looked from the papers in his twitching fingers to Dickenson who genuinely looked saddened, pitying.

"Tala, I supported your parents through many ventures and travels…the entire board did, but the…**Vampire** theory was never something they could solidly prove…"

"Not without exposing themselves to every single Vampire in the city…they're violent, smart creatures but they're…they're nesters…" he had to say these things, he had to make Dickenson see the truth, "…they prefer to be reserved and hunt individually…" he grabbed a page and held it up, "…my parents have their eating patterns, information about their feeding needs, their hunting needs. It says that '_while they are violent, they mostly only attack to feed or when provoked other wise they are content to dwell beneath us or out of sight…feeding on the weak humans or animals and even occasionally their ow-..." _

"Listen to what your reading dear boy…" Dickenson didn't need to shout, cutting into Tala's rant, hearing that the young man was once again out of breath for his stress, his need to share this information even if he just blurted it out in no proper pattern or explanation, just everything he believed... needed to be explained…

Tala didn't go on though, his hands crumpling the page a bit as the man went on,

"All of that information was unfounded…there's no proof of any of that…"

"They're faster than we see…stronger than us…" he said as a half explanation to the lack of proof, "…they have no heart beats…but they have blood…immortal beings…undead…" he was starting to rant again and Dickenson stepped in.

"Immortals? Undead? Creatures that need to be staked through the heart to die?" he never said anything else as Tala stopped mumbling and stared at his fathers handwriting on the page in his hands.

"But they're cursed with a demon spirit…their souls are forced out…" he looked down at the paper he held, "…or at least confined somehow when the demon takes over, not the full will of the human but its inhabitancy alters the human…" he nodded to himself with a frown, "…all taking place after the person has been bitten, drinks blood of a vampire…this is the process of being sired…" he sniffed as his emotions started bubbling up and he mumbled on, "…the newly sired Vampire will only rise once his heart and breath stops, they become deceased to arise unde-…" he stopped and clenched his jaw.

He knew how it all sounded.

Ancient folklore had told more realistic tales of blood drinkers than this…

"You're realizing how it all sounds aren't you?"

"There is a hint at demon possession…" he was still trying, he had to try and get Dickenson interested.

"No, there is no hint." the older man said firmly with a sigh, "In all my 40 years of working with the paranormal, witnessing demon possession and exorcisms and such, never have I seen something like what your parents theories have reported." He sighed and took his small round glasses off, "…and also, again I must point out to you that all of this research has no basis…"

"Did you ever ask them where they got their information?" he looked up at Dickenson, pale blue eyes shining a bit with let down unshed tears.

The older man nodded moving his lips to speak and his neat moustache shifted,

"Yes dear boy…" he stared at Tala, "…all they ever said was it was a 'reliable source'. They never offered any further information and were adamant that they would never."

Silence settled and while Tala was staring at his fathers handwriting Dickenson was obviously trying to still go along, seeing how completely tired the twenty one year old looked, shoulders hunched, untidy papers in his hands, eyes ringed from lack of proper sleep, he sighed,

"Did they ever say anything to you about this source they claimed to have?" he sounded resigned.

Tala knew he was just being humored and he shook his head 'no', telling the truth,

"My parents never wanted me too involved. They told me basics and let me read the books about this sort of thing but when they were working on something…they never told me what it was." he sighed, "My father told me about the Vampires…although he never said 'if they exist'…he spoke of them with confidence that…**they did**." He looked up from the papers to the desk distantly as he said this.

Dickenson nodded and sighed as he pulled out a white handkerchief and started cleaning his glasses,

"We wanted to help your parents but their cause was fruitless. There is nothing to support claims of blood lusting undead soulless creatures lurking about and even less in terms of 'Vampire' attacks. We have a tight budget here and our resource's are precious, we couldn't waste money chasing a horror fantasy…" he was speaking from a foreign place, he didn't understand the conviction Tala had seen in his fathers eyes when he told Tala about how much faster and stronger they were.

His father had said that if you knew what to look for you could easily identify a Vampire should you be in a place where they're likely to show up…but his father had never told him where or how.

He knew no details.

"So I'm afraid we cannot help you, however if you intend to study the paranormal and supernatural, perhaps not major in it but at least dabble, we would be more than happy to offer you a position here." He was smiling with that annoying presence of happiness again when Tala looked at him.

"Thank you." Was all he could say as he stood a little shakily.

Dickenson stood too,

"Your parents had a shared office here Tala, perhaps you'd like to take their personal belongings. I told the police and cleaners to leave everything as it was."

Tala had just slung his bag over his shoulder when he looked to Dickenson and then nodded,

"Yes please, I'd appreciate it."

The bald man nodded and walked around his desk,

"It is so unfortunate about your parents, what wonderful people…" he had tried to place a hand on Tala's shoulder after they left the office and noticed how the younger had shifted away from the touch, so he took his hand and placed it behind his back with the other while Tala clutched his papers and walked quietly beside him.

After a minute or so they reached a plain white door and the man nodded,

"You may go in, if you have any questions you can come and see me again at any time. It was a pleasure finally meeting you."

Tala nodded,

"You too." But the old man could tell Tala was distracted and hardly eager to remain in his company.

He watched Dickenson go finally and opened the door, stepping into a medium sized office, the lights were off but the large window provided very dull lighting from the overcast sky. He stepped inside and closed the door, the room was very chilled, snow was collecting on the outside of the window but that was the usual.

He looked to his side at the light switch and put the fluorescents on, they flickered until finally they cast harsh light over the bookshelves and drawers, two completely unorganized desks with only lap top cables laying in a rectangular vacant area on each desk, he knew their lap tops were probably at their house, or in their cars.

He walked over to his mothers desk which he identified by the little plaque with her name on it, picking it up as he rounded the desk, he sat in her comfy black roller chair, running his fingers over her name.

Ania Ivanov, stunning woman with strawberry blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes.

His father had been a sturdy built man with darker red, almost brown hair, taller than Tala could ever hope to be but not intimidating, he was almost jolly.

Like a big child, his blue eyes always gleamed when he laughed and he winked so much his mother always made fun that she believed he had some sort of a twitch. But really, it was because he was always joking or playing fools, or telling secrets about work that Tala should not have known, like the Vampires.

They were so happy, his parents…he knew that they weren't perfect, no one is perfect. They argued and disagreed like any family or couple but in the end they worked it out. They had a passion for the same thing and it worked perfectly for their relationship. How many times he had heard the story of them doing and unorthodox investigation on a girl in University they believed was possessed…like a Scooby duo.

He smiled to himself and placed the plaque on the desk space where the lap top was absent, scanning over the papers, catching words about animals being infected or possessed, things varying to murders with supernatural circumstances.

He sat forward and shifted some papers, hoping to see some thing with that damning word 'Vampire'.

But as he shifted more papers he found nothing.

He looked up and around the office then he stood up with some determination, still holding his lap top bag he placed it down on the untidy desk along with his files and walked back around.

* * *

After an hour of scratching through drawers and papers everywhere in the office, including his fathers desk, Tala found nothing. **Not one thing. **He sighed and leaned back against the side of his fathers desk, he was sitting on the floor with books and papers around him in which he'd found nothing.

He knew one thing though…he knew he believed his father. He'd seen those bites and had been told and read about Vampires, he didn't know how to prove anything but he believed it.

Vampires existed.

These people couldn- no, not couldn't, they wouldn't help him, so he would do it alone.

He'd find them by himself…

He stood up and grabbed his stuff from his mothers old desk in a hurry, leaving the office behind as he exited and closed the door with a snap, he walked quickly and quietly pushing passed a few people who turned to look at him.

He was not going to let some old fools organization who believed that only where God was, the Devil was.

Exorcisms, demon possession, ghostly souls of the departed who got lost in limbo?

That sounded just as ridiculous in many ways and yet billions of people believed in it when occurrences were sometimes easily explained away by insanity or self harm and sometimes just **lies!**

But Vampires were a flat no?

Greedy hypocrites…they didn't believe just because it didn't suit them financially.

Those other things were what these people believed in, worked with, he had often wondered why his parents did a lot of 'free lance' work while they traveled for the MPIO. Now he thought he understood perfectly, it was because they were using the organizations resources.

He pressed the elevator button and waited as he stared at a spot on the wall absently, realizing that his parents had often taken 'extra' travel leave when they were excavating an area abroad, sometimes even using their own money to extend trips.

Tala wasn't always on those trips before he was 18, but he'd traveled a lot with his parents in the three years passed, hence the reason he hadn't attended university.

His parents clearly believed in more than just paranormal, they leaned toward the less **natural **side of things, the less **holy** side. The less explained.

He stepped into the elevator when it arrived and leaned against the wall, wondering even more now about how had his parents acquired this information on Vampires, he believed that when they said it was reliable it had to be, so then…

"I have to go to their house…" he mumbled to himself and noticed three heads turn to look at him. Blinking out of his momentary daze he looked away from the frowning people awkwardly and waited to reach ground floor.

* * *

Tala's parents owned a villa in Moscow's upper crust residential area, they'd always had family money and were also quite wealthy from their respective careers. He'd grown up in the beautiful house with high iron gates and snow covered trees.

But that wasn't were Tala was going, he'd seen every inch of that house and knew his parents would never keep anything that was of any research value there.

Though the drive was long and it was starting to get to late afternoon, it'd be worth it in the end, he had a gut feeling.

He'd stopped off at his apartment to pick up his key to his parents Dacha on the outskirts of the city and an overnight bag as well, he knew it was just over an hours drive and that he'd likely have to stay over there once he stuck into their research.

He hadn't been there very many times, he'd never been fond of the house but he knew one of his parents were often out there while the other stayed at home and on weekends it was sometimes the only place he could contact his parents at all. His mother always said she loved the greenery and all that but Tala felt right then like he knew why they preferred it, the seclusion and isolation.

They could work on what they really wanted to out there without worrying about an organization member popping round for a bit of curious nosing, they'd always complained about how forward those people were.

He hoped that Dickenson meant business when he said he wasn't going to help, it meant Tala could do this in peace, find out what his parents had been doing and **how **they had ended up in a place that got them killed by Vampires…he wanted to know where that place was.

The road he drove on was just green land on either side after a while, it wasn't an empty road, a lot of people going into the city or coming back from it. He kept a good pace, not over 80 km/h and he figured he'd get there before it was dark even though he'd left the city later than planned, the sun was already on its way down though since it was nearing five pm, so he second guessed his estimation.

He picked up speed a little more.

* * *

It was dark when he reached the off road turn off to his parents second home, which was down an old badly tarred, potholed road, next to a lake that Tala knew would be freezing cold and foggy if not half frozen, and surrounded by high trees.

He hated this place because it was not the city, Tala was a city boy, he hated trees and nature and damp foliage.

He shivered a bit at how the fog misted his windows and turned on his high beams as he bumped along the road, bare hands sliding along the steering wheel as he watched the turns in the path carefully while leaning forward.

He saw the outline of the three bedroom house and turned to park near the enclosed front entrance of the house, leaving the car on for a moment as he leaned forward to look up at the house in the darkness.

It was by no means as well kept as the villa but it wasn't low grade either, just dull and very old Russian style.

"I hate this place…" he sighed and switched the car off.

When he stepped out he made a whining sound,

"Aaaah, man it's freezing…" he whispered to himself as his words clouded in the air, his skin starting to feel prickly and wet from the moist air.

Deciding it was best to get inside and light that ancient fire place –whereas heating would have been better – he quickly gathered his things from the car, which wasn't much, then he locked it up and walked around to the entrance.

Inside the windows of the outside porch enclosure he could see the porch chairs and the front door. He opened the partition entrance door, stepping inside and he was grateful the wind was no longer making his hair crazy, he closed and locked it with a grumble.

"I really hate this place." He repeated a little louder.

He had truly never found it interesting to come here and even now when he knew what he could potentially find here, it still pissed him off.

Walking over the noisy wood floors, Tala opened the front door and stepped inside, it sounded like it slammed when he closed it because it was so quiet out there. He clicked the latch on the door so it was locked and tossed the keys on the small side table next to the door. The floors were all wooden and the place was not lacking in the general modern western functions, his parents weren't totally old school.

He smiled, it had been about a four years since he'd been out there, he mentally thanked his GPS, or he would have been so lost in getting here.

He switched the lights on in the large living room space and glanced around at the couches, fireplace, heavy curtains, family photo's and paintings that lined the cream walls.

It was essentially a second home that he'd never liked.

He walked further inside and dropped his bag and lap top bag on the first couch, sitting on the arm of the couch he didn't bother to look at the pictures on the walls too closely, he'd seen all of them before at his own home.

He noticed how neat the lounge was, just a few loose pages on the table.

Tala stood up and walked toward the fire place, dreading having to make a fire but he was pleased to find his parents had had it replaced with an electric fire place.

"Thanks mum and dad…" he said with a sad smile as he turned it on and then started to remove his coat.

He had to get to work, his father and mothers work room was one of the three bedrooms, one had been his parents and the last had been in his own, at least he'd have a place to sleep that was familiar…sort of.

He slipped his hands into his formal pants pockets and walked through into the kitchen, switching the light on and going for the kettle. Coffee sounded good but he knew that once again he'd gone all day without eating so he turned to the fridge and walked over.

He was a bit annoyed to find barely anything to eat, some food sauces and old looking containers.

But he figured that when one of his parents came out here to the middle of nowhere, they probably brought food, he really shouldn't have been in such a hurry.

To add to the annoyance, his parents had chosen to buy one of the houses furthest from the city, so at his best speed, he could get there in over a half hour. That would be another hour back and forth.

"I'm not hungry enough." he mumbled.

He was about to go back to making coffee when he saw a cup sitting right in the back of the fridge, a plain white mug but it was what was inside that made him pause and feel **very **uneasy.

He reached inside and gripped the mug handle, bringing it forward slolwy and out so he could look into it and sure enough the thick red liquid inside the cup had a poignant smell that could only be identified as **blood**.

A mug of blood in his parents fridge.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he held the mug away from himself and then with an upset frown he turned around and walked to the bin, there was an empty recently replaced dirt bag inside and Tala tossed the entire mug in it then grabbed up the plastic bag. He sealed it by its ties and absently pulled the back kitchen door open, walking into the cold back yard where the lake was visible.

He went to the main black bins and tossed the packet out, letting himself shiver a bit from both cold and being disturbed by the strange unsettling mug of blood. He began to wonder why his parents had had a cup of blood in the fridge but his mind triggered a more important detail suddenly, albeit belatedly.

He turned around, the snow under his feet crunching and he stared at the back door he'd just come out of…it hadn't been locked.

His parents were door lockers, window lockers, car lockers…they locked things behind themselves all their lives hence the reason Tala was just the same.

Shaking his head and feeling slightly less confident than before he walked back toward the door to go inside but then he spotted something just past the side of the house, his eyes widened and he forgot all about how cold and creeped out he was as he rushed toward his fathers car parked off there.

He stared at it when he reached it, remembering he hadn't asked anything from the police, not about the details of his parents situation, he'd only heard the word 'brutally beaten and murderer' and had blanked.

He leaned his hands and face against the glass, seeing the car was locked but there was nothing inside, this meant he had probably been in his mothers car with her when they went off to do…whatever they'd gone to do.

That got them killed.

He leaned back from the window and turned around with his hands on his hips and let out a frustrated sigh, feeling completely chilled to his core but staring at the slowly sloshing water of the lake over a dark bank.

The only thing he could guess was that his father had been out here when his mother came over and then maybe they'd rushed? Maybe that's why the door wasn't locked.

He felt a pang of sadness and he pursed his lips, he'd never know what actually happened.

Shaking his head and all of his uncertainty away, he headed back inside.

* * *

Almost six cups of coffee later Tala leaned back in his parents study's couch, staring wide eyed at the ceiling. He'd been in the warm study for about four hours, going through the more detailed personal files of his parents expeditions.

He'd been right about them using the MPIO to go abroad and research, there was information about some of the strangest things.

Some of the more agreeably unaccepted case research was of werewolves, which to Tala was reasonable since he believed in the Vampire theory. Then there were notes on real witches and warlocks practicing dark magic's which was also not completely unbelievable, he supposed.

He couldn't be half in and half out if he planned to get anywhere.

But it was difficult because then there were the least detailed files with creatures like Basilisks, Centaurs, Cyclops and such which was just weird and hard to even picture.

When he'd started reading up on the demon files, it dawned on him just why Dickenson wouldn't have supported this cause, it went against everything he believed in.

They were notes of demons being able to take corporeal form, though the notes clearly stated it was lower level demons but there were also notes on the princes of hell and arch demons…

It was vague however, words written in basements of an ancient church they'd excavated in a country or an artifact they'd uncovered. It was practically…unfounded.

Like Dickenson had said.

He didn't want to run straight into the theory that his parents were loons because he didn't believe them to be…and in a way he understood where they were coming from in a way Dickenson had not. Once you open your mind and truly find something – and he believed his parents truly had seen Vampires of the non human blood poser types- then your automatically open to it all.

To believe in a creature who walks dead, no beating heart or breath, dead flesh who has higher bodily functions, strengths and senses than any human no matter how advanced in mind, to need to feed off of warm blood for strength and to stay alive…

While it chilled him when he thought of the image of a hideously disfigured semi rotted walking dead person with blood dripping from their fangs, it also intrigued him.

He sat forward again and looked at the reference books open on the desk of demons and Vampires his parents had, illustrations drawn by people from a few centuries ago, the pictures were awful and graphic, it made his stomach turn.

Vampires would likely be a horrible thing to see.

But then again…some of the written knowledge and incidents in the books didn't speak of hideous creatures, it spoke of meeting Vampires who were attractive and devious, in both the sly and sexual way. It highlighted points of blood drinking being almost erotic and from the details written by some women who claimed to have encountered them in places like night theatres or alley's, they were hardly very scary to look at…until they _revealed_ themselves.

There was lots of stuff of the revealing points in the books, in his parents notes though it said very little.

Something about almost 'natural changes' was mentioned though.

Through all of his reading he'd discovered that the Vampire notes his parents personally compiled were the only ones that had so much detail, even though they had no valid source of note at that point, it was the only thing they seemed to write about with surety.

He hadn't managed to find anything about how to tell a Vampire from a human like his father had mentioned but the notes he carried with him as he exited the study were the ones he felt most important.

**How to kill/harm Vampires.**

**Vampire Nests**.

He walked through the quiet bottom floor to the stairs, pausing a moment to remember whether he'd locked the back and front doors before he continued upstairs.

* * *

The water in the taps had taken a while to run hot but when it finally did it was heavenly, there was no shower so he'd taken a hot bath, he was glad he'd packed extra toilet trees since there had been none.

He brushed his teeth slowly after his bath, wearing a robe instead of a towel since the small heater he'd found in his parents bedroom would not do much good once he left the bathroom.

He felt even more tired after the long day of let downs and possible dead end leads in the research and his reflection showed the tiredness in his face.

When he was done he walked through the upstairs hall to his old room where he'd dumped his bag earlier when he'd first arrived. He walked into the room, the light was on from earlier and he found clothes in his bag, a loose pants and T shirt. He dressed quickly and climbed into the bed, pulling the covers up over himself before leaning to reach the papers next to the lap top at the foot of the bed.

He leaned back against his continentals and took in a deep breath, frowning a bit before reading the sheets of paper,

"Vampire nests are usually beneath Mausoleums, in abandoned buildings, church basements or in the sewers. The size of the nest determines where it will be. Small nests have a minimum of ten vampires, they can usually be found in the sewers scavenging." He paused thinking of the size of the sewerage systems all over the world.

"They usually consist of lesser Vampires, newly sired or those pushed from a grouping to go a stray. Larger groups between 15 to 25 find places beneath cemeteries or basement's, content to hide in old crypts and feed on mostly animals, lost vampires or stray humans." he finished quietly.

He shuddered when he thought of them killing each other and sighed,

"The largest nests can have anywhere between 50 to 200 Vampires and sometimes more depending on the age of a nest, usually inhabiting abandoned buildings and the surrounding underground area. Vampire nests this size are said to have leaders, most likely the oldest, strongest or in some cases, most feared Vampire and are said to be organized and dangerous. Picking off homeless humans, children and older people in groups, they almost always feed on human…blood." He brought his legs up, feeling a little colder, he leaned the pages against them as he moved the first sheet to continue.

"Up to three Vampires can feed from an adult human to their minimum satisfaction. They do not usually consume flesh and do not usually bother to take anything more from their victim besides blood. It is said to be rarely documented that a vampire will steal from or violate a human sexually when preying on them, this however does not confirm the actuality of these incidents. It is even less likely an average Vampire would be in the presence of humans at any given time unless it needed to feed." He ran that over in his head, finding it quite fascinating, when he'd heard 'Vampire' from his fathers mouth, all the movies he'd ever watched came to mind which did not match this description.

He read on,

"However it is not completely unheard of that a Vampire seeks companionship from a human, though the outcome of such a union has never been documented." He tilted his head and rested back further, a strange scent lingering in his nose, "Though Vampires are violent in feeding they are said to have a passive though subtly cruel nature at first meet, they do not seek confrontation and prefer to remain hidden. There are occasions when vampires are bold enough to walk among people, almost always at night and still discreet…" he read down the page, little scribbled notations on areas and types of scene Vampires didn't mind showing up to, not surprised to see underground clubs on the list.

He flipped pages and read the word '_Feeding_',

"Vampires do not only drink blood, though its what they crave and need for long term sustenance. They do ingest human food and alcohol usually just for pleasure as they do have all working senses. Alcohol does affect them but for brief periods of time and is not very effective for the most part and they do feel pain but only because their nerve endings are fully functional, however their pain threshold is exceptionally high and at times will feel no pain when hurt…" he made an unimpressed face, "…lucky bastards."

He scanned for any more specifics but it was just short side notes, things like '_no signs of possession but not unconfirmed whether such an entity inhabits the body_'.

No specific notes on souls either.

He moved on to the 'How To Kill' and was a little unnerved at the first line,

"Vampires are immortal. This is a fact. Source explains oldest Vampire is said to be a few thousand years old, they suffer no common illness and broken bones can heal if corrected like in mortals." The word 'Mortals' gave him the willies, it was so final some how.

They could not be killed.

"Vampires eye sight is usually as good as it was when they were alive, but their other senses tend to make their possible lack of vision useless since it doesn't hinder them." There was a small note at the end stating, '_Cannot confirm texture or feel of Vampire flesh but it appears normal though unnaturally pale.'_

A few things had been getting Tala's attention as he read, things like _'it is said' 'source explains' _and now _'it appears'_. These things either meant that his parents were talking to someone who knew a hell of a lot about these creatures and had physical contact with them, or they had observation over one first hand.

More side notes mentioned that '_hair grows as usual'_, '_nails grow as usual but are far stronger but not necessarily longer than an average person prefers nails_'.

Tala raised his eyebrows,

_'Fangs are confirmed, top fangs almost an inch long, bottom are half the length –this is a visual estimation. Teeth are likely sharp. Front and bottom left, right central teeth become sharp as well as following three both upper and lower –cusped through 2nd bicuspid, but do not grow in length.- _

Tala tried to picture that and wiggled his fingers a little, feeling slightly unnerved he read what was next and he frowned,

"Contrary to popular belief sunlight does not kill Vampires unless exposed to it for an extended period of time. However it weakens them greatly and is one of the effective ways to harm them, it is also inconvenient to man since the power of the sun cannot be harnessed as a weapon against them. Vampires do not favor sun for this reason and also because it apparently hurts their eyes which, appear normal when a Vampire has not revealed itself."

He closed his eyes a moment and tried to picture it, **revealing itself**…

The transformation in his mind was graphic, he pictured something like a monster and it made him open his eyes when he had pictured something like that killing his parents. Nauseating and…frightening.

Looking back at the sheets he focused on the pin points of killing Vampires,

"Anything wooden, preferably pointed for piercing their skin which is tougher than mortal flesh, can kill a Vampire so long as the aim is for the heart and only the heart." He looked at the side note '_Some side research reveals this may have something to do with the heart being the seat of a soul.' _

He read on,

"Description provided says Vampires will burn when staked in the heart and die instantly, more specifically it can be assumed that its some sort of spontaneous combustion." He looked at the side note, '_Suggestion that their bodies burn based on their cursed souls, references to hell?'_

Tala's eyes narrowed as he read,

"Religious items do not affect vampires, myths such as holy water or a crucifix have no effect that's visible."Tala thought about the MPIO building, yet another reason they'd run from this.

"Silver- if somehow one can manage to wound the Vampire with it or affect them somehow, does not kill but wounds and slows down the Vampire." there were no additional notes so he went on,

"Fire will kill a Vampire. But it must burn the undead body to cinders to be effective as Vampires heal at an accelerated rate and can survive 3rd degree burns with almost perfect health recovery."

The notes hear said '_They do scar._'

"Beheading." He read the last word and then looked up from the page, this was starting to seem a little hopeless.

But it couldn't have been since his parents wanted to get involved, thinking about the notes saying they were passive and didn't seek confrontation meant his parents were probably in the wrong place, a place they should not have been.

"Hunting grounds? A Nest…?" he put the papers beside him as he wondered aloud and reclined back with an arm above his head, his lean muscles felt sore from lack of rest and tension, "…but why?" he took a breath.

Why…?

Tala frowned,

"Why…does my bed smell like someone else…?" he sat forward and turned to look at his pillows, he'd noticed it earlier but hadn't been able to pinpoint it. Now that he thought about it, his room smelled different, it looked the same but there was a scent in there, somehow strong enough for him to notice.

Not like a tenant had been staying there for a week, more imbedded in the furniture and curtains.

It was not unpleasant, not in the least, it was actually kind of heady and undoubtedly masculine.

Tala just sighed at the added irritant, he almost thought of sleeping in his parents room, but he wasn't up for more memories and misery.

He'd lost the only people he loved…

Shaking the thoughts from his head and trying to figure out why his room smelled like another guy, Tala decided sleep was more important and that maybe his parents had let the house out for a longer period of time or something, they'd done it before.

Just to make himself feel better he got out of the bed and grabbed some fresh bedding anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

The following morning had started out much like all his recent mornings.

Tala had groaned and forced himself up.

He took a hot bath and cleaned himself up, dressing in a loose track suit pants and a tight long sleeve black cotton shirt and training shoes.

After doing his hair more efficiently since he expected to be working up a sweat soon and he didn't want it in his way, he went downstairs, his stomach reminding him he hadn't eaten in a while.

He was lucky to find two lonely eggs and the only thing in the freezer was a sealed pack of bacon. This was fine and though it wasn't an ideal breakfast for what his day was going to entail, it served its purpose to get rid of his hunger.

After eating and having his required coffee , which there was no lack of, he left the kitchen with one goal.

All that reading had helped him to know what he'd be up against, now it was time to prepare to be physically up against them.

He'd only seen the room below the house once and that was before his father and mother had it upgraded, but he knew it had been turned into a training room. His father had mentioned it during their training sessions at the villa, saying that he was able to push himself much harder.

Tala had been a little jealous, his father had been looking really fit just recently.

He was well trained however.

He knew three kinds of American Martial Arts, four types of Chinese, the same amount of Japanese forms and two types of European fighting styles including Russian Sambo. He had also learned knife throwing and weapon wielding ranging from firearms to crossbows, though some he learned better than others.

This was what Tala used to spend his school afternoons doing at home, but he'd started slacking off when his parents thought his curiosity was getting too dangerous for him. So he hadn't perfected any of those styles…but he was efficient enough to never be scared to fight someone.

Still he knew he had to seriously improve or this was just going to be the death of him.

He walked down the stairs to the basement, the key he'd found the night before in the study was in his pocket and he unlocked the door momentarily wondering if Vampires were nesting down there.

He was hardly amused to find he was wrong, he was actually relieved and he scolded himself for it.

He couldn't be so afraid.

Switching on the two light switches to the musty underground room, or converted basement, he looked around and his eyes widened. The room certainly had the basics like weights and that sort, but the training mats, balancing beams, suspension hanging from the ceiling and the walls of weapons arranged around the room left his mouth hanging open in amazement.

It kind of looked like a classy torture chamber, they'd upgraded everything, there was even a set of high grade computers mounted into the wall along with their key pads. Everything was switched off and polished.

He smiled to himself, he could see his father appreciating this room and maybe even his mother.

He walked further inside and took another look around, walking up to the board of shiny silver blades, they were so attractive Tala ran his fingers over the surface of one and then onto the red velvet of the board.

He turned back to the room and walked over to a mat and stepped out of his training shoes, stepping on to it Tala took a few deep breathes and then spread his legs, dropping into the splits without a flinch.

He smirked to himself, he may have stopped training with his father but he hadn't stopped training altogether.

Leaning forward he let his legs slide back and lay straight, arms at his side and hands beneath him he pushed himself as if he were doing a push up, getting some momentum.

Using the muscles that were not altogether visible under his pale skin, he pushed his legs up and dipped his head and shoulders, using his upper body muscles with some strain, he got his legs straight up in the air above him, his arms straight and then flipped his body over.

Landing on his feet he brought his body back up so he vertical and then he flipped backwards again and landed in a crouch with a slightly out of breath smirk.

He hadn't done this in so long, having been raised on this sort of thing it was almost too fun. He glanced around and saw the additional four mats piled in a corner. If he was really gonna get some work done, he'd need some larger ground area.

* * *

**Three Days Later**

It wasn't to say the hurt of losing his parents had gone away but the adrenalin of preparing to take on their murderers was more than enough to keep him going.

He'd been training for three days with short research breaks in between but there wasn't much else to learn so he focused on training more.

He'd driven into the city after his first training session and bought food supplies and water, also he went to his apartment to fetch more clothes, he'd also received a call from his parents insurance to tell him that his money would be paid out in 24 hours.

He was probably quite a bit richer than he had been a few days earlier but he didn't care, money was not something he valued over his interest in getting the real murderers of his parents. Police were chasing ghosts and it wasn't the paranormal kind, they were chasing after the kind that genuinely didn't exist because there were no men who murdered his family.

Vampires were real and he was going to find them.

He'd been eating well and training well, he was surprised and pleased with how quickly he fell back into the routine. It was different from school afternoons, far more intense since he was an adult, alone and unrestricted, so he pushed himself.

His skin burned and his body was hot from the exertion but he didn't stop, he'd been going for a straight six hours without a break and empty water bottles piling up on the floor at the side of the mat.

Flip after flip, weight change after weight change, his push ups and crunches he'd stopped counting, he was going on automatic.

He held back the pained sounds as best he could as he practiced his kicks, it hurt to force his legs to lift that high but even though it hurt Tala got his kicks up with the needed force behind them.

After a taekwondo upper kick that was particularly forceful he brought his leg down with force and used the momentum to swing his leg back and spin his body into the next taekwondo kick coming up from down.

But he wasn't strong enough to hold the position and the delivery failed, his leg didn't make it up and he collapsed on his side, out of breathe and clenching his teeth as his body cramped.

The grey long sleeve he wore was sweated through and his pants were sticking to him, gritting his teeth Tala sat up and pulled his shirt off, tossing it aside before he stood back up ignoring his cramping muscles. Tala bounced in place for a while loosening up his tension, turning his neck from side to side to relax a bit, his breathing was still heavy.

He'd laid the mats out all across the floor so the two punching bags were over the mats as well.

He padded over with his bare feet sticking to the mat and let out a long breathe before punching out at the first bag, it shifted quite a bit on the chain and Tala followed through with a side block then punch and elbow to the second bag that bounced back. He went on this way, different punch formations and palm hits, doing some plain punch drills until the bag jangled on its suspension and he was going between the two bags while standing in the middle and doing a few tricky two angled timed kicks.

He hadn't realized how loud he'd gotten vocally and he went on abusing the bags until his arms and legs burned and sweat dripped from his pointed nose.

Finally in the flurry Tala leaned himself backwards into a flip, landing on his feet he turned into a kick to the first bag and then another frontal kick using his thigh muscles to put power behind in it, the bag swayed heavily.

Tala grabbed it and slid to his knees, out of breath and sore.

But he smiled. He felt confident.

He leaned back on his legs, knees on the mat and his head resting against the lightly swaying bag as he pulled his training gloves off. He flexed his aching hands, even with the gloves his knuckles had bruised.

All those years and training and now was the time when he pushed himself because now was the time that would matter.

He got up on his exhausted shaky legs and walked toward the knife board, passed the wooden weapons, arrows and crossbows and even passed the guns. He liked the knives.

He slipped two twin knives out and felt their weight in his hands, longer than his palm but not bigger than his fingers length, nicely weighted and perfectly pointed.

He was grinning to himself when he glanced at the knife board and in the reflection of a larger knife he saw someone standing a good few meters across the room near the bottom of the stairs.

Tala felt his heart immediately beat faster and he spun around and threw the small knife at the target, his ideal was for the arm but what he hit was a wall.

The knife stuck surely enough from the force behind the throw, unfortunately it was almost a meter off target.

Tala gripped the other throwing knife in his hand and he blushed since the young guy standing there glanced between the knife stuck in the wall and then at him without much expression…except he was smirking ever so slightly.

That was embarrassing.

Tala looked him over. Sizing him up in case.

Slightly taller than Tala, 5 foot 10, maybe a little more. No older than twenty five and that was pushing it even. He was fair skinned, very fair skinned and he was more built than Tala but also not bulky, lean…fit. He'd obviously come from outside judging by the snow in his two toned hair, it was a silver blue at the front and dark almost black navy at the back.

There were snow flakes on the shoulders of his black leather duster which dropped just passed his calves in its length and beneath it he wore a black tight fitted vest and an open red shirt, silk…it looked like silk from the light reflecting on it. Tala's eyes drifted down to the leather fitted pants, not crotch hugging uncomfortable but enough to highlight leg shape just slightly, the pants sat low on his waist and he wore a pair of leather casual black combat boots that were unlaced and mid calf.

Tala thought that an accurate description was…not available to him at that moment.

The guy looked over to the wall again, his hands were in the pockets of his leather jacket, he stepped with a subtle sway…it might have just been the jacket swaying, and his slow steps took him over to the wall where he slipped a pale hand out and plucked…yes, plucked, the knife from the wall.

He looked over it and Tala almost expected him to throw it back but he didn't, he turned to face Tala and wiggled the knife,

"That was…uh…"

Tala turned even more red in the face at the new comers amused expression and loss for words, he wanted to defend himself for some reason,

"It was the spin…thing…" Tala gestured with his hands, feeling awkward and flustered, "…I haven't got it yet." He nodded with a frown at his words.

The other nodded rather agreeably and placed the knife down on the balancing beam near where he stood,

"Yeah, it was…close…ish." He raised his eyebrows at Tala and somehow managed to not look like he was mocking the red head.

"You were trying to kill me?" he asked very casually and slipped his hands back into his jacket pockets.

Tala shook his head and shifted on his feet,

"No, of course not…I was aiming at your…shoulder…" his eyes followed the bluenette's gaze to the slight gash in the wall which was level with his throat.

He looked back at Tala and the red head narrowed his eyes angrily when he got the point,

"Maybe I was tryna kill you, who the hell are you and **how** did you get in here?" he gripped the other knife in his hand tightly when he remembered that upstairs had been locked up and this man was standing down here.

He had every right to try and kill him…well not really but that was beside the point.

"I have a key." He did in fact have one, this he showed Tala when he raised his hand and jingled it for the other to see.

Tala recognized it as the tenants key.

"You're a tenant?" he breathed quietly, glad he wasn't still out of breath from working out but he was still sore and sweaty.

The blunette averted his gaze and tipped his head to one side lazily and briefly,

"Something like that."

"You're lying. I checked before I came here, no one is leasing the Dacha right now…" he challenged.

The other didn't seem phased,

"I'm not leasing. But I am staying here."

"Then you're here illegally and I will call the police." But he made no move. The blunette was at the bottom of the stairs and while he didn't look hostile Tala didn't trust confronting this man, the knife was still within the others reach.

_'I shouldn't doubt myself, how can I be prepared to take on a Vampire if I cant take on a normal man…?'_ he mentally berated himself and kept his blue eyes keen on the other.

He sighed at Tala,

"I'm not here illegally, I work for the Ivanov's."

Tala felt his chest tighten, he hadn't thought much about them the past few days.

"Oh…" he tried to get himself together but by the barely visible narrowing of the others eyes, he knew his face was obviously expressing some part of his emotion.

He forced it from his mind and the other spoke,

"I don't have to stay here if you are…I have another place to go, but could you tell me when they'll be back, Stas and Ania. I just got back from collecting some information for them, I'll wait outside." He gestured with a shoulder movement backwards, holding the keys in his other fist loosely.

Tala swallowed hard and looked away from the other not able to hold his calm gaze,

"How…l-long have…you been…away?" Tala asked and his tone was not very steady.

"About a month…" the other spoke quietly too, Tala could see he was picking up on the obvious distress.

Tala back stepped and leaned against a weight's holder,

"They're…Stas and Ania…a-are…dead." He looked at the floor when he said it and then raised his eyes back up.

There was no immediate response, the other male just stood there for a moment, his eyes were a deep wine red when he glanced to the ceiling lights and his fists clenched.

"When?"

Tala blinked and was glad to find he'd stopped the urge to cry,

"A week and a half…" he mumbled and stood up again, resigning himself to stop being hostile, he placed the knife back on the board.

When he turned around the other was walking out of the room.

Tala crossed the room to follow, flinching slightly when his bare feet came into contact with the cold cement stairs as he ascended into the house,

"Hey…?" he rushed with quick steps down the hall and turned into the kitchen just in time to see the other step out into the dark and the door shut.

Tala hadn't even realized night had fallen.

He felt the ice cold wind hit him when he pulled the door open and looked out, he saw the other go around the side of the house. Tala looked down at the ground off the step, covered in ice, if he dared to follow…it'd hurt.

He took a breath and fought back his shivers about to step onto the snow barefoot, wearing no shirt and a thin training pants but the bluentte came back round the house and made quick steps over the snow toward the door.

Tala backed away and the other walked in and closed the door, his eyes focusing on Tala as it clicked shut, his hand sliding slowly down the door as he watched the red head, Tala felt a little nervous all of a sudden at the intense stare.

Did he need to be worried after all?

"Stas and Ania, were your parents?" the question was pretty straight forward.

Tala found himself nodding in response,

"Yeah…how did you know?" he mumbled.

The other blinked and gestured toward the kitchen door,

"Photos."

Tala felt that embarrassing heat rise to his ears again,

"Right…" he was irritated with himself, the cold bothering him now since he was no longer exerting himself with exercise.

Tala sighed in his irritation,

"How long have you stayed here?" he crossed his arms over his bare chest, just to feel a little less bare.

The other was taller, not too noticeably to anyone else but to Tala having to raise his eyes even just a bit too see eye to eye with the other made him feel smaller, not to mention the other stood so still, not even shifting, his hands at his sides and eyes, seemingly darker in the kitchen light, he watched Tala with no expression.

"On and off for about 5 months." He answered, "…but I've been working with your parents for over a year."

Tala nodded when he remembered that the Dacha had been vacant besides his parents visits for the better part of the last 7 months, it made sense they wouldn't lease the place out with a guest staying over.

He didn't know if he should so readily trust this guy but he had a key and he seemed pretty familiar.

"I'll leave now though." The words made Tala stop staring at the wall in the kitchen when the other walked by him without touching.

Tala turned and followed again,

"Leaving? Why?" he followed him up the stairs.

He didn't answer right away, only when he reached Tala's room did he glance at the red head before walking in,

"Because with your parents dead, my work is no longer valid." He said it without any harshness but hearing it still stung.

Tala absently noted that the blunette must have been the person occupying his room and that's why it'd smelled so different, even felt different. Five months was a long time though. He watched the other get down on his knees and reach under the bed, pulling out a black bag, not too large but it most likely contained the others personal items, clothes and such.

Tala hadn't even thought to look under the bed, but he didn't grouch on himself for it, he'd been tired and distracted all the time he'd been there so far.

The other was coming back toward the door and Tala found he had to ask one question,  
"Were you doing research on my parents Vampire theory?"

The blunette stopped just a few feet from him, seeing as Tala wasn't moving for him to pass and he took a moment before he answered,

"Yeah, now move."

Tala stepped aside but followed the others quiet stride out of the room,

"And you said you came here with information for them?" he followed him down the stairs.

"Yeah." he walked back into the kitchen.

"So then tell it to me!" he said louder than intended as the blunette had his hand on the door handle.

Red hued eyes turned to look him over, he knew he probably looked ridiculous, it was ten below outside and he was running around after a stranger half naked and distressed, but he was desperate…anything this man knew might help.

"Why?" was all he asked.

Tala closed his eyes a moment and then looked back at the other,

"Because anything that can help me find the Vampires who killed my parents, no matter how small…will make a difference."

He didn't know whether this guy truly believed his parents research or if he was just getting paid to run around but he wasn't going to rule anything out.

This seemed to get a small amount of interest from the other, he left the handle and turned to face Tala fully,

"Your parents were killed by Vampires?" it was a sincere question.

Tala knew he'd sound crazy but he went ahead,

"I saw their bodies at the morgue…they had bite marks. But with everything else…the marks and bruises…the officials just called it a regular murder…" he breathed out angrily, "…searching for some human murderer that doesn't exist."

"Mortal."

Tala looked up at the quietly spoken word,

"Huh?"

"Vampires are human by definition…they are just not mortal. Being that they do not live or breathe but their physical selves are human, just…dead human. Though not decomposed."

"I read the notes." Tala added as he stared at the other male.

"You cannot expect to read your way through this. What your parents were doing was preparing, not reading to fill their time. They had a goal and just knowing information vaguely will not get you anywhere." his tone was firm.

Tala stared back at the passive look he was receiving,

"I have a goal as well, I do not intend to do anything in half measure." he said pointedly, "My parents kept me in the dark and I've been trying to cram like…two years worth of research into my head in three days…" he was a little out of breath at his frustration and he looked away from the other, upset at being chastised by this complete stranger.

He turned away from the blunette,

"You know what…never mind. Keep your information…" he shook his head.

"You don't have to take this on…" came the quiet words.

Tala turned around,

"My parents were **killed **and no one believed them…no one wanted to help them and even now…no one wants to help them. I want to finish what they started." he insisted.

"Do you even know what they started?" he watched Tala carefully.

Tala honestly shook his head.

"But your absolutely sure you want to take on what they were doing?"

And he honestly nodded.

After a beat of silence the taller male nodded once,

"Alright…then I'll help you."

"I didn't ask for your help…just your information." Tala forced his anger to show this man he wasn't some weakling.

"You're going to need my help."

"Think much of yourself…why don't you." He muttered and averted his gaze.

"My name is Kai."

Tala looked back at him expecting a hand to be extended so he automatically extended his own, to find that Kai's hands remained one in his pocket and the other on his bag.

"I'm Tal…a." he lowered his hand.

"I know your name Yuri Tala Ivanov, Ania talked about you often." He informed as he dropped his bag to the floor.

He was once again reminded he was shirtless when he shivered from the cold,

"I'm going to put a shirt on…" he turned and stopped, "…could you please lock the doors behind you."

"Vampires can't come into a private residence unless they're invited…" he offered and Tala turned in the doorway to look at him,

"That wasn't in the notes."

Kai was crouching down and looking through a side compartment of his bag,

"It's new." He didn't sound much too interested in explaining.

If he was going to be difficult then Tala would be as well,

"That's great anyway…but regular **mortal** people can walk in and kill us any time they like…so lock the doors, **please**." He added at the end of his sarcastic statement just as a touch and then walked out of the kitchen.

He missed the short glare and roll of red eyes that was directed at him.

* * *

When Tala returned downstairs after having gone ahead and taken a long hot bath, he felt better, he'd been tired and realized it was late, so he figured he'd get the bath routine out of the way.

He walked into the living room and glanced at the electric fireplace, it was still on and yet he wanted to shiver, even with his sleep shirt, pants, robe, socks and bed slippers on.

He spotted Kai sitting on the single couch near the corner of the living room, he was leaning back, eyes closed and one leg leaned across the thigh of his other, hands idle and fingers intertwined over his abdomen.

He had taken the leather jacket off and Tala looked over the shiny silk of his shirt, earlier his eyes had looked that color.

He looked along the unlaced boots and up the leather surface covering the long well built legs.

Walking slowly closer Tala let his eyes drift over his hands and then to the tight black tank vest clinging to what was certainly noticeable definition in his torso.

Pale skin where the vest neck line ended brought Tala's eyes up over colorless lips, a finely shaped nose and then…open wine red eyes.

He paused his slow walk, leaving him standing all of two feet from where Kai sat,

"I thought you were asleep." he mumbled.

Kai said nothing about Tala obviously being caught out looking at him a bit too intently and gave him a once over,

"Cute slippers."

Tala glanced down at his teddy bear slippers and when he looked up again Kai had stood up and was closer than he'd been before. Tala stepped back a little less subtly than he would have deemed graceful but Kai didn't seem to care, he side stepped Tala and lifted a book off the coffee table to his side,

"This a note book I kept with everything I researched for your parents…it'll be a good place for you to start. It's got more details than just about Vampires." he held it out to Tala.

He took the heavy hard back book which had bits of paper folded and sticking out, it certainly looked used,

"Details about wh-?"

"Demons, witches, warlocks…but you only need to focus on the spells that Vampires can use just by the undead cursed energy running through them. They are products of hell, not the sort of hell you'll read about in a bible…but different levels of hell harboring different kinds of demons, portals, dimensions…evils."

"Vampires however, can go to hell...were they do suffer like all other beings of evil who can be banished there, there's a reference on page 116 about banishing spells but more often than not they don't work because of Vampires using blocking charms within their nests. Although mortals usually cannot channel magic's, dark or pure unless they're of higher intelligence so while it's useless the potions references should be useful for disabling charms, mortals can use potions. Then there's information on how to single out a Vampire leade-…"

"Wait…wait a second…" Tala slammed the book shut, he'd barely began to skim through the sheets when Kai had started rambling.

The bluenette regarded him evenly.

"…could you…not do that." He asked simply while staring at Kai with tired blue eyes.

When the other didn't respond he sighed,

"I didn't know there was more information about other…creatures, my parent's notes didn't have anything like what's in this book." He continued flipping pages, seeing sketches of a demon and notes on its preference to eat babies.

"This looks like horror stories." He breathed out.

Kai looked off to the side,

"The reason your parents didn't focus on all the extra information was because it's not a concern for mortals. Those demons and even the better part of the witch and warlock variation don't come to this realm, it was just for collection purposes."

"Realm…?" Tala raised an eyebrow.

"Try not to think about it…your parents had a hard time understanding it all."

"I want to understand it." he closed the book again slowly.

"It'll overwhelm you Tala. There's been thousands of years of this sort of thing, for you to try to absorb it…"

"But you seem fine…your not much older than me." He shot back.

"…even I don't know all the finer details." He said quietly, "…on this mortal plain, being the only one of its kind, you only have to worry about Vampires because they're a breed originally born of this plain." he looked back to Tala.

"What?" Tala breathed out.

"The kinds of demons that inhabit human bodies to become a Vampire, were born from the hell situated in this mortal realm and Vampires have adapted over the years to suit their surroundings but they've been here as long as mankind…even longer maybe…" he trailed off when he saw Tala's face pale.

"I told you all of that wasn't necessary right now…what's best for you to know is how to kill and disarm a Vampire."

"I think what's best for me is if I lie down…" and with that Tala wobbled and sat on the arm of the chair Kai had been sitting in. Kai made no move to help him.

"I think you may be right. Sleep tonight and tomorrow you can go through this at a better pace." Tala nodded at Kai's words.

He stood up after a moment and held the book to his side,

"You were sleeping in my room before…I'll stay in my parent's bedroom so you can have a place to sleep." he said tiredly.

"That won't be necessary, I'll stay down here."

Tala stared at the floor,

"Well, I'll be in my parents room anyway if you change your mind…" he left the living room silently, aware of the calm eyes on his back until he was out of the room.

* * *

Tala didn't sleep very restfully after he went to lie down, he felt colder than usual and the air in his parents room was too still. The heater he'd brought into the room from his own was failing to do its job, he curled under the blankets on his parents bed, shivering slightly in his plain black long sleeve shirt and pants.

He rolled over when a particularly stirring chill ran down his back and he sat up, the blanket falling from his upper half as he cast his pale blue eyes around the dark room.

He didn't know why he felt like there was a presence there…but he knew he felt it.

The last chill he'd felt had been like a cold trail along the nape of his neck traveling straight down his back, making his stomach clench in anxiousness. He knew he was being foolish though, he'd locked the room door and he could clearly see no one was in the room.

He hated to think of it, but he felt that maybe being in his parents room was going to be too hard right then.

Pushing his bed hair back from his face, most of it still in its usual style but lose strands hung around his face, he slipped from under the covers and stood at the bed side, putting his socked feet into his slippers. Tala grabbed a pillow and the blanket and bundled it against himself as he walked over to the door.

He unlocked it and it made quite a noise in the silent house.

He walked along the hall, passed his closed bedroom door and downstairs padding quietly with his soft slippers, not wanting to wake the other occupant.

He walked into the dark lounge and tossed his blanket and pillow onto the empty couch as he glanced at the crystal ashtray on the coffee table with two cigarette butts in it. He knew it hadn't been there earlier which meant they belonged to the bluenette. He sniffed the air and noticed that he could vaguely smell it since it was recent.

Tala's father had always favored cigars and not cigarettes.

He flopped onto the couch on top of his blanket and folded his legs under himself,

"Ottsa ... YA skuchayu po tebe i materi."(_Father…I miss you and Mother)_ Tala mumbled quietly as he looked at the photos in the dark on top of the fireplace, he'd seen so much and learned even more than that from his parents.

Tala glanced above the fire place to the clock, seeing it was after 3 am, his muscles hurt when he moved and he was so exhausted but sleep evaded him.

Everything was starting to pile up, his parents death, Vampires, a complete stranger and all the additional information about demons and such…he felt his stomach lurch. He really hadn't known what he was getting into.

He hated the fact that he may actually need the help of the other man.

Tala leaned his head back, the cold air in the lounge bothering him less since he was closer to the heat in the fireplace than the small heater in the room upstairs.

He felt himself slipping as if he might just fall asleep as he was when he heard a snapping sound, not loud, but in his subconscious it was enough to make him jerk awake and look around the room.

Nothing had moved.

He got to his feet, slipping them straight into his slippers as he stood and walked around the couch, some stupid part of him wanted to call for Kai like some desperately frightened woman, but he kept it back and listened carefully.

He heard more noises coming from down the hall passed the stairs and the only room back there was the door to the basement. He walked a bit faster and still quietly until he reached the wooden door built in under the stairs.

He opened it easily and looked down to see the light's on and he could hear the slight snapping sounds of flesh hitting something…the plastic covering of the punching bag?

He knew then it could only be Kai downstairs so he walked in and started descending the stairs, as he got low enough he leaned down to look under the ceiling into the basement.

There was Kai, in his black tank shirt, leather pants and boots, training.

Tala noted all of the mats had been piled back in the corner and that the human board was filled with knives all centered around the eyes and heart. He slowly crouched down to sit on the stairs as he watched Kai move around the punching bag, two jabs made it sway and he wasn't even wearing anything to protect his hands.

He was doing basic moves, knee, punch, elbow, forearm, punch, turn kick…Tala followed the movements easily…except his punches didn't waver or weaken no matter how many times he hit.

His body was rigid when his fist or knee connected, rattling the bag on its hinges.

When Kai came around the bag again Tala noticed that he looked bored but it was a split second before he saw those scarlet eyes shift over to him lazily before redirecting again to what he was doing.

Tala didn't even bother excusing his invasion of training privacy…because he'd been interrupted earlier. It was even.

The smell of smoke was much stronger in the basement because it was an enclosed space, he continued watching Kai who didn't let Tala disturb him.

Kai went on, moving a bit faster after a while and Tala watched the tank shirt cling just a little tighter as the sweat started to mould it to the very fair skin. And then Kai turned violent, hitting the one bag with two punches, firm and square at the middle and Tala raised an eyebrow as a tear sounded, the stitching giving way at the side and the sand started to slip out onto the smooth concrete floor.

It was at this time that Tala took a moment to notice the duct tape wrapped round the punching bag in certain areas,

"I guess that happens often..." he mumbled from his place on the stairs, eyes tired though he was impressed with the force of Kai's punches.

The bluenette glanced at him and at his bear slippers, Tala twiddled his toes and felt a blush coming on at the lingering stare Kai gave the shoes before he turned his lean muscled back and walked over to the human board, he started to pick the knives out.

Tala watched his shoulder blades move underneath his skin and the shirt, his muscles shifting just barely every time he pulled a knife from the board which was sliced and diced quite a bit.

"I'm not incompetent you know…in fighting." he mumbled louder so the blunette would hear him.

Kai pulled the last knife out and went over to the velvet knife board, slotting them in and seemingly ignoring Tala, so he stood up and walked the rest of the way down, stepping out of the stairs shadow into the harsh fluorescent lights just as Kai turned around, those dangerous eyes gracing him with a once over, again.

Tala didn't know why he thought Kai looked dangerous…but it had something to do with the four knives he'd pulled out of the human boards eyes.

He walked over to where Kai stood noticing how Kai stepped back when he came to stand beside him, Tala ignored it and grabbed six small throwing knives. He crossed the space of the room and when he was as far as he could go with nothing obscuring his aim, he looked at the human board.

He shot a dull look at the blunette as the strong but silent jerk saw fit to step a few feet away and Tala did not miss that smirk of amusement as he leaned more or less behind a wooden beam next to a shelf in the corner of the room.

So Tala showed him, easily slipping the knives between his fingers, three each side, shifting his foot and his arm back and when he threw his arm forward and released two of the blades from his hand he was confident enough to change his stance without looking where the knives went to move into the throwing the next two.

Finally he slid his bear slippered foot forward making him lower, before licking the fifth knife and then he turned and slid on his knee to throw the sixth.

When he was done within seconds he stood up and walked over to the board, one in each shoulder, two in the forehead one in the knee and one randomly in the neck.

'_I need to get that right…'_ he thought to himself when he remembered his neck height aim earlier that day…despite how far off it'd been. He then turned to look at Kai when he walked over but never came too close,

"That's nice…its all very fancy." he commented softly.

Tala frowned at him

"What do you mean by 'fancy'?" he knew but he had to ask.

"You make it look very fancy, throwing knives like that…where as you'd do more if you just focused on hitting a target." He was speaking in a monotone, not really seeking a confrontation with Tala.

But the red head was angry, it was the second time that day his abilities had been questioned.

"I'm light on my feet, yes I need to perfect it, but I think it's an advantage." He defended.

Kai turned and looked directly at him and that close under such bright exposing light for the first time Tala got a good look at Kai.

His skin was pallid, under his eyes were an ashen color but the inside was a bright burned red. His eyes themselves were a unique color, wine red or just a very vibrant dark hazel, Tala didn't know. His mouth had no color and running from just below his left ear was a faint almost non visible scar, trailing all the way down to below his adams apple, as if someone had attempted to cut his throat from ear to ear…and stopped, or not managed to get that far.

His hair hung in uneven untrained bangs around his angular face, with the same untrained style at the top and then fell into flat straight even hair at the back of his head and on his nape, his hair had no shine, but it looked soft.

He was drawn from his wide eyed analysis by Kai's voice,

"If twelve Vampires attack you at the same time and you think being light on your feet is all you need, you're just going to die. Your parents knew better and you say they were killed by Vampires. How do you measure up to them…" It wasn't a question, but something for Tala to seriously acknowledge and consider.

Kai stepped back and Tala instinctively did as well,

"They're faster than you and much stronger. Your punches wont hurt them, but your weapons might. You need to focus all of your energy on your weapon wielding. Learn to master everything, from a regular household knife to an axe…to the most basic wooden stake." He spoke as if he were bored.

Tala nodded, he knew these things,

"I just thought if I got fit…and learned grappling and…"

"You don't want to grapple with a Vampire, he'll just subdue you and feed from you."

"Subdue?"

"Yes." Was the undefined response.

"Um, hello…could you be any more vague?" Tala watched Kai walk back across the room and pull open a drawer, extracting a roll of duct tape.

"I could actually."

Sarcasm…from this guy? Tala had half a mind to laugh.

"What do you mean, subdue?"

There was a quiet sigh as Kai approached the punching bag, lifting its lesser weight upward until it came off the main hook, he dropped it to the floor,

"If a Vampire gets close enough for long enough…they can…mentally persuade you to succumb to them. Its not a noticeable thing, its like…they tap into your blood sync…slow your heart rate down. Calm you to the point of lethargy and near weakness…" he was explaining as he carried a bucket of sand and scoop over, crouching down over the bag, "…then they kill you." He examined the tear.

Tala stared wide eyed,

"I suppose that's also new."

Kai started scooping sand into the bag,

"No, I actually told your parents that already. Maybe...they just didn't have a chance…to write it down." He said quietly.

Silence followed that.

Tala watched quietly, standing feeling a bit chilled and numb and Kai went on filling what little sand had seeped from the bag back in.

Tala did need help and he knew it.

"Will you train with me?" he asked as confidently as possible.

Kai was just about to start duct taping when he looked up at Tala, said nothing and then continued to open the tape, filling the silence with the sticky ripping sounds.

Tala waited, content to do so as Kai finished up, stood the bag up, gave it an experimental kick and then steadily hung it back up using its base to balance it onto the top hook.

When he was finished it swayed a bit and Tala stepped forward and stopped it out of his sense of being idle all the while, this again brought him closer to Kai and the other, again, stepped backward.

"I can't train you." He said audibly and Tala saw him look at the clock, it was almost five am.

Time went by fast.

"Why not? You can see where I'm…where I'm…weak. You can see what needs work, you'll be able to help me get where I need to be quicker, it'll waste less time." he said despite his pride.

"I can't." he repeated and started to leave walking toward the stairs.

"What the hell, that's not even a reason?" he rushed after Kai up the stairs.

Kai walked silently for someone in heavy boots but Tala was just as quiet in his slippers, he followed him all the way through to the next set of stairs,

"You can't just say no. If your helping me then you should help me train as well." He tried again as they climbed the stairs.

Upstairs the air seemed even colder than downstairs and Tala shivered as he followed, stopping when Kai stopped at the bedroom door,

"I'll pay you Kai…if my parents were paying you anything, I'll double it. If they weren't…then name a figure." He knew he had the pay out from his parents insurance, this was the best he could do.

Kai looked at him just after opening the bedroom door and then shook his head.

Tala narrowed his eyes and went to grab Kai's arm, he just needed him to listen. Kai reacted with hostility by grabbing Tala's wrist, pulling him forward only to turn him around and shove him face first into the wall across from the bedroom door.

Tala's hand connected with a thud against the wood and his head just missed it, he hadn't expected that.

The door behind him closed with a snap and a click and Tala turned around to look at the door, he leaned tiredly against the wall.

He'd been handled like a bloody rag doll…and he was supposed to take on Vampires?

Resigning himself with a shake of his head and a sigh, Tala walked back down the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

He didn't sleep at all and found that staring at an unmoving heater in the fire place didn't provide any distraction to his tired mind. He'd read through a lot of the stuff in Kai's information book.  
A lot of it scared him, the subdue thing was in there. It said how it was best not to look a Vampire in his face while making physical contact with them because they could leave you close to mind numbing paralysis in a minute.

He read in detail about feeding.

Vampires didn't eat because they always needed it. They fed for their violent carnal needs and blood lust desire…but could go almost two years with little to no blood intake. 8 months at most without a drop. Strength would decrease and they'd loose weight, much like a person starving themselves, but their faculties remained in order and they were still dangerous at these points to an average human.  
He didn't know how Kai could be so calm and sure.

He'd probably been in the know about these things for years.

Tala looked at the large living room window and saw the sun shining just a bit even as the snow fell and the wind whipped it around, the weather was contradicting itself. He was bundled in his blanket on the couch, the book open randomly beside him.

Vampires could drink an adult dry of any blood in twenty minutes. A child in half the time.  
His parents hadn't been sucked dry…which by Kai's notes suggested it hadn't been a feeding kill…just a killing spree.  
He didn't even want to cry anymore…it was too exhausting.

He stood up from the couch and made his way to the stairs bundled in his blanket, he climbed the stairs listlessly and made his way into his parents bedroom where his bag was for changing clothing.

* * *

He started from the top. The book of Kai's open on the drawers in the training room, Tala recited everything from Vampire weak points to incantations to look out for when in a Vampire nest. Potion recipe's and charms to look out for and create.

He did this while he did the basic training.

Using the wooden punching dummy, Tala padding up his forearms and hands and at first went completely nuts just hitting between the angles.  
It hurt, his forearms would bruise beneath the padding, but he relented.  
He needed to be able to take the pain.

Then he moved on to the weapons, he did sessions with each weapon he felt he'd handle best.  
He started with the knives, different sizes and weights.  
Then he moved onto long weapons, the thick wooden training sticks were easy enough to manoeuvre around, forward thrust and evidently, to break over his knee to form a convenient stake.

He was grinning by the time he was using the stake and handling the pointed wood with so much ease that he was able to spin it in his hand before grasping it for a forward blow to the chest.  
He made sure his stances were firm…nothing fancy.  
When he threw knives, he did them all forward facing while occasionally testing his peripheral vision in any situation, planning subconsciously for several Vampires at a time.  
"Don't let them get close…don't let them get close…don't let them get close!" he said the last word with hard force as he threw the stake across the room and it stuck with full force behind it into the wooden man board, straight in to what was marked as the heart.  
"Your my bitch…" Tala grinned to himself as he took a deep needed breath from all the exertion and walked over to his water bottle on the floor.

He looked at the clock, he'd been down there since seven thirty and it was going for one pm, if Kai had woken up, he hadn't come downstairs yet. He remembered how their previous encounter had ended some hours ago and he felt bad, he really didn't know Kai well enough to try and insist anything upon him.  
He knew he had to apologize and it was gonna stick in his throat.  
He did some exercises to wind down and about 45 minutes later he made his way upstairs, walking through the house he found that everything was as he'd left it before going downstairs that morning. He tried to ignore his need to limp from a leg cramp as he walked up the stairs.

He stopped at Kai's door and tried to hear anything behind it but there was nothing.  
Tala left the door and headed to the bathroom to have a nice hot bath and get the sweat off his body and blood off his knuckles.

* * *

It was just getting dark outside when Tala decided Kai had to either be gone or unconscious and despite having barely known him for 24 hours, the idea of him not being around worried the red head.  
For this reason he went upstairs quickly and came to the door, he knocked once and then twice and heard nothing.

He'd heard the door lock the night before but yet when he pushed down on the handle it opened, so he pushed it inward and peeked inside.  
It smelled of smoke and the other scent that Tala had first noticed, heady and not unpleasant. He saw that the dent in the bed was barely there, the sheets hadn't been moved but a pair of leather pants lay over the foot of the bed and the room looked entirely undisturbed except for the ashtray at the bed side.  
"Kai?" he said without stepping to much further into the room.

The curtains were closed and the room was almost in complete darkness save for a dull grey glow. With no lights on in the hall or room it was just the coming evening last light from outside.

"Kai." He again said, more than asked, he really thought now that Kai must have left.  
"Yes?"  
"Ah!" Tala all but leapt forward into the room and spun around, the door swinging open slightly as Kai stepped inside…in a towel only covering his lower waist to his knees.  
Recently showered and…Tala couldn't really allow himself to describe anything else without feeling awkward.  
Yet…he stared.

He stared at a particular water bead that trailed from the hollow of Kai's neck, down his sternum…through the path of very definitive abs hidden partially by pale glowing skin…Kai was glowing and that bead slowed its way down the length of Kai's abs and settled into the hollow of his shallow navel.  
Tala's eyes did not follow the dark line of hair below the navel because Kai switched the light on and his eyes went quickly back up to Kai's face,  
"What is it?" he sounded tense.  
"You're really fit." Tala informed him right after completely averting his gaze to glance around the room.  
"Your not unfit." Was Kai's response.

Tala looked back at him as he walked over to the bed, dropping a small kit bag –presumably holding a toothbrush and bathing materials- onto the bed. This was also where the bag was rested on the floor,  
"Was there something you wanted?"  
Tala shook his head slightly and his two long red bangs swayed as he did this,  
"Uh, I was just checking on you because you hadn't been out of the room all day."  
Kai reached for the leather pants laid out on the bed and at the same time removed his towel.  
Tala kept his eyes on Kai's face as he spoke,  
"You think I need to be checked up on." There was humour in his tone as he pulled the pants up and closed the buttons.  
Tala shook his head,  
"No…I thought…you left."

Kai didn't say anything, he just pulled the tight black shirt he'd taken from his bag over his head and Tala relaxed now that he was dressed, he found it interesting that Kai didn't seem to feel the cold which was constantly making him shiver.  
As he put his socks and shoes on Tala went for it,  
"I'm sorry…about before. I shouldn't have…been so insistent. You're not obligated to help me."

Kai didn't look at him after he put on his boots and stood up, running his hands through his hair it seemed to just settle…much like Tala's. The red head just watched as Kai grabbed his leather jacket off the desk chair in the room and pulled it on.  
"Are you leaving now?" he just went ahead and asked, his resignation to let Kai go plain on his face.  
Those wine coloured eyes looked dark when he settled them on Tala,  
"I'll be back in about an hour…I need to go into the city."  
"Me too." Tala stated quickly.

Kai just looked away and walked back to the door and Tala followed, he was dressed to go out in a jeans, two shirts and boots, he just needed to slip on a jacket.  
"I'll drive you."  
"That's not necessary." Kai said over his shoulder as they reached the bottom of the stairs.  
"…fine." Tala backed off, remembering how following Kai around had ended with his face against a wall.

Kai went around the corner into the kitchen and with some unlocking sounds, he was gone out of the door. Being curious Tala followed and went out into the back to see exactly how Kai intended to get into the city.  
Ignoring the snow wetting his cold skin as he walked out, he turned to the sound of a motorcycle coming from around the house noisily, the gravel was wet and thick, slippery even but Kai handled it very well as he revved the bike and went passed Tala easily, around the other end of the house, the helmet had kept Tala from seeing Kai's face.  
"…was wondering how he got here." He mumbled and went back inside.

* * *

The drive back into the city was long, it was just after seven when he entered the highway and drove into Moscow's bright lights, it was comforting to be back here.  
The streets were relatively busy since it was quite early and the convenience store he entered was warm which was soothing from the windy conditions he'd found pummelling the city.  
He vaguely thought of Kai on that motorcycle and shook his head, dusting some melting snow flakes from his jacket and hair, he grabbed a basket and started his way around the store.

He didn't know what Kai ate, heck…he hadn't seen Kai eat. So he bought a mixture of stuff, some fresh foods, meats, canned food and dry foods. He also bought soda and water, he contemplated buying beer but he didn't want to instigate a piss up. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol would not do.  
After paying for everything he left the store, cursing in his mind as the wind hit him but he got to the car and dropped the groceries into the boot with relative struggle.

Deciding he'd make his trip worth it, Tala went back to his apartment to fetch more clothes and groceries, afterward he drove to his favourite take away and bought for him and Kai, just in case.  
Then he made the drive back…feeling more and more useless.

When he got back he parked alongside the motorcycle around the corner from the back entrance and then closed his eyes and banged his head against the steering when he thought of wobbling through this wind. But he got out and did what he had to, grabbing all of the bags from the boot first, Tala walked around the corner to the door, struggling for moment before he realised it wasn't locked.

He made two more trips to the car for his bags of clothes and the take out before he left everything in the kitchen and sat at the table, letting out a long breath that made his long red bangs fly up and sway to the sides of his face.  
He didn't want to go looking for Kai again so he just stretched across the table and grabbed his take out, bringing it to him and lifting it from the bag along with a plastic fork.  
He started eating when Kai appeared in the doorway, Tala glanced at him still wearing his jacket and his eyes scanning over everything Tala had brought.  
Swallowing a mouth full, Tala gestured to the other food parcel,  
"I bought you something to eat…I haven't seen you eat anything so I thought you might be hungry."  
"I ate in the city." He leaned in the doorway.

Tala shrugged and stuck another fork full of Russian ravioli into his mouth.  
He continued eating as Kai stood there for a minute before he approached the table, the packets rustled and he removed his food parcel from one of them before sitting down across the short 6 chair fitting wooden table. He opened the box and looked over the food as he grabbed another plastic fork and stuck it into the dish, lifting some food to his mouth.  
Tala found himself watching Kai over the packets on the table with mild amusement as he chewed,  
"You've never eaten Pelmeni before?"

Kai didn't seem to be put off because he put another mouthful of the dumpling like food into his mouth,  
"No…but its good." He said after swallowing, leaning one elbow on the table as he ate. Tala resumed his meal, finishing it off and then standing up and walking over to the dustbin, he threw the container out.  
"I needed that…I'm not a very good cook."  
Kai didn't comment as he made it half way through his food and then left it aside and Tala was pleased to see him reach into a grocery bag for a bottle of water.  
"What did you go into town for?" he enquired innocently as he walked back to the table and sat down, also reaching for a bottle of water from the packets.  
Kai got down half of his bottle before he closed the half finished food and pushed it aside,  
"I needed to pick something up."  
"Okay…" he couldn't push with Kai, he'd realised this the hard way and he was looking directly at Tala as he leaned back in the chair.

There was more silence for moment as Kai finished his water and then Tala moved in for more small talk,  
"Do I need to pay you…for the information you brought? I assume my parents paid you." He sipped his water.  
Kai's eyes never left his face,  
"They didn't pay me. They let me stay here and that was it, I have money." He admitted.

Tala found this strange yet believable, he carried one bag of clothes but he did have that motorbike.  
"I told you…" Kai looked away and stood up, "…if you want me to leave I can, I'll still help you."  
"Help me do what…?" Tala didn't mean to sound annoyed but he felt it, "…my parents were preparing to do something but I don't know what it was and now I'm preparing but I don't know how long I have or…"  
"Whenever your ready." Was Kai's simple response, placing the empty water bottle on the table noiselessly.  
"Okay, when I feel I'm ready…what happens then?" he stood up as well, but not abruptly, just normally.

"Then we go to the nest…and kill the leaders and as many Vampires as we can. Kill the leader and the rest are likely to leave the area, scatter." Kai slipped his hands into his jacket pockets as he stood beside the table, Tala staring up at him,  
"Most of the time Vampires moving in smaller numbers will get picked off and killed by larger groups in fights or in search for a place to stay during the day, fighting for territory. For Vampires the two safest options are nests or being completely alone and of the two, nests are favoured. Your parent's goal was to get rid of the nest beneath Moscow and get proof that Vampires existed and then they were hoping to gain support in creating movements like it all over the world…"  
"There's a nest beneath Moscow?" Tala asked wide eyed.  
Kai glanced at him from something he'd been looking at on his jacket and nodded,  
"Yes."  
"H-how….man-many Vam-pires?" he tensed.

"You cant be afraid. You have to be confident. The intention is not to take out all of them, its about a strategy to get to the leader, likely have to kill two or three others who will try to defend him. The majority aren't likely to interfere once their leader falls. Vampires are always in survival mode, for all of their strength and agility, they are very unloyal and will always look out for themselves first." He said calmly, seeing the anxiousness in Tala's face.

His red eyebrows set in a frown and creating the slightest of creases in his smooth skin,  
"How many?" he repeated a little more steadily.  
"About two hundred."  
Tala's eyes widened a bit and he placed his face in his hands, he rubbed his face, leaving some red indents in his pale skin as he did so roughly, he pulled his hands away and looked at Kai who was just staring at him with no expression,  
"And what's our strategy?"  
"You're parents planned to attack in the day time because they assumed the Vampires would be off guard but it was an incorrect assumption. They didn't listen to me and intended to do it anyway…"  
"Do you think that's what they did?" Tala asked quietly, "…their bodies were found in the late afternoon."

There was a pause and he heard Kai sigh very slightly,  
"It's a possibility."  
"Why didn't they listen?" he looked away from Kai.  
"Fear."  
"Of course they'd be afraid, how could anyone not, how can you not be afraid?"  
"Fear can make people do stupid things. If you want to do something like this…you have to be level headed."  
"You keep saying that! Cant be scared, can't be worried, have to be-…"  
"Because its true!"

The slightest raising of Kai's voice silenced Tala and he stared at Kai, back stepping just once since Kai looked a little more than annoyed,  
"There is no room for whining, bitching or mistakes. It will get you killed. Your parents were scared and it got them killed…and it seems you're more than likely to die as well. This might just be a waste of time…" he'd gone quieter as he spoke.  
"Have you killed…le-leaders before?" Tala asked quietly.

Kai nodded shortly and he relaxed, Tala saw his shoulders ease down as he dropped his head, hiding his face with his silver blue bangs, Tala sighed,  
"What's the difference with this one?"  
"I have no reason to want to kill anyone in this clan. The last Vampire leader I killed owed me a debt."  
"So your doing this for…?"

Kai just stared at him now, wine red eyes dull in the kitchen light but no less intense as he watched Tala shift under his gaze,  
"I was doing it because I wanted to help your parents. Stas and Ania were good people with good intentions and as the Moscow nest grows the more likely they are to get bold enough to surface in larger groups and smaller intervals. I was helping them because they asked me to."  
Tala could tell he wasn't saying all that there was to the story but he didn't press for information, instead he steeled his nerves,  
"I can do this, its not a waste of time. You say you have a strategy and I trust you…" he couldn't believe he'd just said that to a man who was mostly a stranger when his parents went against him.

But to Tala he seemed like he was certain…and he'd killed Vampires before…what more could he hope for?  
'If only he'd train me…' Tala blinked a few times,  
"I'll follow your plan and we'll do this your way…and when you think I'm ready."  
"I cannot say when you're ready." Kai said plainly.  
"Fine…when I'm ready…we'll do it your way." He sighed.  
Kai nodded shortly and turned to leave and Tala heard him mumble as he left,  
"As if you had any other way…"

The red head pulled his tongue at Kai's retreating figure for the sarcastic remark.

* * *

Almost a full five days passed during which time Tala noticed a few things.  
For one, Kai had a habit of saying something sarcastic whenever he did actually choose to speak normally, this excluded his sudden rambles about Vampires or Demons.

Another was that the bluenette had decided unofficially to only train at night while Tala slept and it was courteous as far as Tala could tell since he preferred to train in the day time.  
To add to the things Tala noticed, a routine was on that list.  
It was scary how synchronised they'd become, everything from kitchen, bathroom, living room or laundry sharing time, just like training, Kai managed to some how avoid him. Occasionally Tala would run into him and he'd try to make conversation but Kai wasn't a talker, he was the type who stared while you talked and then walked away.

But he couldn't get upset, he'd have been alone all this time if Kai hadn't shown up and this wasn't a social arrangement…it was a serious one.  
Everyday more and more Tala wanted to feel ready and everyday he just didn't. He had the sinking feeling that Kai was waiting for him, what could really be holding him back? He was fit and able and not even the least bit worried, or at least it looked that way on the outside.  
But Tala had been working so hard, his precision for movements, throwing, hitting, kicks, turn kicks, punches and his balance was at its best…yet he still didn't feel ready.

For this reason, Tala was more determined than ever to train with Kai, he was worried it would only do to upset the other but it didn't matter, he had to try…something told him that if he couldn't disarm Kai in a fight…he had no shot in hell at a Vamp.  
So he'd waited out the day, he didn't train, he only wasted time.

He drove into the city and picked up some more food, he'd noticed Kai didn't eat much but he'd taken a few trips into Moscow in the days passed, whatever he was fetching was obviously kept in the room.  
After a full day wasted Tala heard the usual sounds of Kai in the training room…beginning his work out.

He slipped upstairs and changed into a long sleeve black tight shirt and training pants with sneakers, since he knew Kai didn't use the mats, and then he made his way downstairs.  
Kai was stood in the middle of the large basement, doing slow movements in a fighting style Tala didn't recognise, he had just thrust his palm forward when he glanced at Tala and then stopped, standing up straight.

He wore his usual black tank shirt – Tala didn't know how many he had- and black slightly loose jeans with different combat boots laced properly.  
Kai looked at him expectantly, a fine silver eyebrow raised subtly and Tala took a calming breath, narrowing his eyes at Kai, Tala launched an attack, going straight into a spin kick and as expected, Kai dodged it quickly and his features changed when he frowned.

Tala didn't let up, launching another kick to his chest that Kai ducked but it brought Tala close enough to launch a punch, Kai dropped down and rolled out of the way. He stayed on one knee as he stared at Tala suspiciously.  
The red head smirked, he'd put relative force behind those punches but Kai had evaded and rolled away, he knew what Tala was trying to do, neither of them were out of breath but Tala had to admit, having a moving target was more fun.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I want something real to train against…if you don't keep dodging or fight back, eventually I'll hit you. Your call." He approached Kai quickly and the other stood up, side stepping a punch and jumping out of range of a knee and again bending backwards to miss the fisted swing taken at him.

Tala continued trying, Kai kept ducking, moving sideways, backwards and so forth until they reached the punching bag and Kai stepped around it as Tala threw a punch and it hit the bag hard enough to make it sway.  
Tala did not expect the bag to hit back, Kai punched the bag seemingly hard enough so it hit Tala, not too hard but enough to make him lose a seconds concentration and in that second Kai had come back around the bag and kicked him with moderate force in the back of his knee and he fell.

Kai again pushed the bag so it hit the side of Tala's face and Tala fell over from the weighted bump, he was quicker this time, rolling sideways and swinging his legs to get back up as Kai advanced.  
Tala got to his feet and swung at Kai who sidestepped while grabbing his out stretched arm and tossing Tala so he rushed past Kai straight back into the damn punching bag. Tala didn't feel sluggish and yet Kai seemed to be quicker.

He held onto the bag and turned to look at Kai and Tala felt a jolt of something, maybe anger or adrenalin, when he saw Kai smirking at him.  
"You're enjoying this huh?" Tala turned around and watched Kai who stood normally, hands at his sides and very relaxed. So far all Kai had done was unbalance Tala and it frustrated the red head.  
And so Tala attacked again, throwing more effort into it, kicks and punches, knees and elbows, he even added some fancy flip kicks which were harder without the mats but he had to get used to that, and none of it landed.

Kai ducked every move.

In irritation Tala decided he really wanted to hit Kai at least once so he got back up after Kai tripped him for the tenth time and being less than a meter from Kai, he got straight up. Face set in anger, he raised his knee and leg while bending and balancing the rest of the body and thrust his leg straight at Kai's upper chest area.  
Tala was sure it would connect, it had been faster than all of his other moves, but Kai's hand came up and Tala felt the power in Kai's grasp when he grabbed Tala's ankle and shoved the kick off its path, spinning Tala around.

When he was turned and he lost sight of Kai he went to brace himself but the minute his foot landed him in a half crouched position his hair was grabbed roughly and he felt pressure in his back, Kai's knuckles digging into his spine,  
"This would be a punch to your spine from a Vampire…it would render you paralysed in a second…dead in another." Kai's breath, cold, was felt against his ear as he grit his teeth against the knuckles pressing into his spine as his head was held backwards by the fist in his hair.  
Tala stared at the ceiling breathing angrily until he was pushed forward and he landed on his hands and knees,  
"I told you before…hand to hand combat with a Vampire is not an option. Weapons put distance between you and them, it gives you leverage."

Tala raised his eyes while Kai spoke somewhere behind him, to his left there was a wooden stick, about two meters of thick wood.  
'He wants leverage…' Tala stood up and used his foot to swipe the bottom of the stick, it fell forward and he caught it as he turned around, flipping it in his hands and getting a good grip, he glared at Kai who gave his knew position a once over, staring at the wooden stick.  
"How about I pretend you're a Vampire…" Tala said with an angry grin of his own.  
Kai's eyes raised and he met Tala's at the exact time Tala came at him.

Tala immediately realised that Kai was right, having a weapon allowed him more movement and distance, Kai backed away when he swung the stick at him but the other side came up fast.  
Still Kai ducked it.

This went on for a minute, Tala aimed his hits and at some points Kai defended the hits with his forearms. He brought the stick over as he steadied his legs apart and tried to hit Kai from a high angle but Kai proved very agile because he flipped backwards leaving Tala to growl in his own angry way.

Charging again just as Kai was on his feet Tala was caught off guard when the stick swung for Kai's right side and he caught it frighteningly firm in his hand.

Kai held the other side of it but Tala let his instinct take over.  
He raised his knee and forced his side downward so the stick snapped, splintering on his end with a loud crack, he kicked out and Kai used the stick he held to hit Tala's leg away.

That was a first hit and it hurt a bit but Tala followed through, hitting the stick from Kai's hands and using another kick since his legs were his strength, Tala kicked at Kai's knee and actually landed the hit.  
His victory was short lived when he felt the ground lost beneath his feet, it seemed kicking Kai's knee inspired him to fight low and Tala felt the grips on his ankles being pulled forward take his vertical axis right out of whack.

Gravity caught up with him and the wind was knocked from him when he hit the ground, his back and head connecting with the wood floor, he shut his eyes and grit his teeth, trying to get air as pain spasmed along his back.  
It didn't end there.  
"On your back, there are several ways to kill you, boot to the face, sends your nasal bone into your brain. Your dead. Boot to your sternum, collapses your chest, bones piercing your lungs, organs, your dead. Boot to your throat, self explanatory…" he trailed off and Tala felt a hand on his throat and he opened his eyes to see Kai's face quite close as he crouched over Tala, his eyes were definitely more intense up close,  
"Then there's the simple more tasty solution…they get close and bite you and you feel the blood run through your veins faster than physically possible as they feed on you while you die. Your heart slows down…you cant breathe…" his breath was cold on Tala's face and so was his hand at his throat.

But all Tala heard was his words, Kai wasn't choking him, not even close, just holding him up but his back did hurt.  
Tala couldn't help the tears that came to his eyes and he saw Kai's sneer slowly leave his face, he took his hand back quickly as though he just realised he'd touched Tala.  
Tala just slumped on the floor, leaning on his elbows while Kai stood up and balled his hands into fists and he looked away from Tala, who tried very hard to keep the tears from spilling.  
Tala felt the same cold hand on his arm and he was being pulled up from his left side, he shifted his legs and stood up, expecting Kai to tell him to get lost but he was surprised when Kai turned him to face the other before he let go.  
"Look at me." Kai instructed.

Tala raised his eyes to look at the slightly taller man, once again seeing how white his skin was,  
"When you are planning a fight, in the small space of time you have before they attack or you need to…watch the other person…" he stepped back and parted his legs a bit to steady his ground, "…watch their feet, you need to try and see their movement before they move. Which leg are they putting pressure on…which way they'll go."

Tala glanced at his legs and then at his face as he continued,  
"Sometimes their eyes will give it away, they'll look at you or something around you…it's a hint at what they might try to do." Tala looked away from Kai's face and then jumped when the cold hand grabbed his face and forced him to look at Kai,  
"No self loathing or pity will keep you alive…you need to be quick. Again I'll emphasise how important it is to keep your distance."

He let go of Tala's face and the cold imprints made him shiver as he listened and watched Kai,  
"You don't attack…you never attack. You must be on the defensive, parry with them if they attack but at all times after deflecting a hit, gain distance. Nine times out of ten they'll get irritated, depending on their personalities, they will either get reckless and attack or attack with more force.  
Both situation are dangerous that's why you need to be quick…you need to wait to attack only until you are absolutely certain you'll land the hit…and it has to be fatal. Any opportunity left and they'll snap your neck where you stand." He gave Tala a very serious look but somehow his tone was softer.

Tala appreciated it.  
He nodded,  
"I'm seeing that more clearly now…I can't even take you down. How will I take a Vampire down?"  
"By staking him so fucking hard that he screams dust…"  
Tala smirked at Kai's words and looked at him to find he was smirking as well.  
"Is that really what happens…they just turn to dust?" he asked quietly as he stretched his back a bit with a wince.  
Kai nodded and looked over Tala's pained face,  
"Yeah…almost instantly. There's a smell to it that's unpleasant…but you'll probably get over it." he hesitated to touch Tala this time and when Tala just glanced at him, he followed through.  
He held Tala's shoulder and moved behind him,  
"Your spine hurts?" Kai asked in a quieter voice.  
His hand shifted from Tala's shoulder and he felt the cold of Kai's hands through his shirt as he rested his hands on Tala's mid back,  
"Yeah."

"This will hurt a little…" Kai informed him exactly at the time he pressed his thumbs into two close but different points in Tala's spine.  
"Aaahaaa!" he half squirmed away from the pain and wobbled forward, turning to face Kai and then noticing the pain was less, then he blushed because of the loud groaning noise he'd made.  
"Thanks." He mumbled.

Kai just nodded.  
"Your hands are freezing…you should dress warmer." He said off hand and heard Kai mumble a non committal,  
"I probably should." As he picked the two broken stick ends up and placed them against the wall.  
"I have a lot to learn…I knew it." Tala mumbled and leaned against a counter he walked over to.  
"It's not the learning, like I said before about the Vampire theories…it's about application of the knowledge. Most people can read…but most people can't kill a Vampire." He looked at Tala with a side long gaze.  
Tala nodded again...knowing full well that the application was the hardest part.  
"I'll train with you…" Kai said as a last word before he ascended the stairs and Tala watched him go, a small smile forming on his face in thanks to the other.

* * *

Tala felt the difference.

Kai training him made a huge difference. While it also terrified him.  
Kai spared no free time, the nights were full of training and Tala was pushed to his limits.  
He was blind folded and had to learn to hear his opponents attacks, needless to say he had a few black eyes and busted lips to show for it before he started getting the hang of it.

Kai hit quite hard, but Tala knew it wasn't his best.  
Once he'd gotten what Kai called 'sufficient' in the blind fold trick, they turned to binding. Kai tied his hands behind his back which forced him to use to his legs. That had been even harder.  
His back and sides were bruised from the falls he took when using kicks and it put a lot of strain on him, but eventually he became 'sufficient' in it as well.

Kai was not the most humorous guy but training together, Tala heard him talk more often and came to respect him very much for all he knew and what he was capable of, he swore he had to have been training in fighting for years to be able to do certain things that he did. Every inch of his body was well balanced muscle covered by matte white flesh that was always cold.  
Tala had been pleased when Kai had finally agreed to show him how to snap a neck like 'they did in the movies', but he was stunned when Kai came to stand behind him and brought his arm and hand either side of Tala, he was cold when his hands touched each side of Tala's face to show key points to hold…after a while they started to warm to his skin though, but the coldness was uncomfortable.

He didn't point it out though, Kai seemed to be fine so Tala was fine too.  
Kai would push the level of training up especially when they reached the 'weapons phase'. He drilled Tala over and over until they ran out of fighting sticks. Then they moved onto chains.

Tala had suffered some injuries in the lessons but ultimately he got the hang of it.  
He didn't know if he was winning material…Kai just kept using the word sufficient.  
Then finally after two months of living out in the woods and training Kai told Tala that the point of being sufficient in everything was so that he wouldn't get too attached to one particular way of fighting.  
Use them all together.

He had a few scars on his arms from the chains and a scar from a cut on his hand when Kai was teaching him how to more 'sufficiently' use his silver knives. Tala was surprised to find out the knives were silver…for wounding Vampires.  
It wasn't too long after the three months of muscle cramps and bruises for Kai to break out a new venture…terrain training.  
"You mean outside?" Tala stared at the taller male who was fiddling with a donut Tala had given him from the box in the kitchen, he didn't look like he wanted to eat it, but since they'd spent more time together, he'd become more polite about things.

"Yes." But still one wordy.

"In the cold?"  
"Winter is passing."  
"Not out here, that cold lingers…" Tala complained uselessly, he knew they'd end up training outside if Kai wanted it that way.  
He bit into his powder donut and winced as his rib hurt from bruising he'd received the day before during training.  
"Is your rib okay?"  
Tala glanced at him where he sat in the single seat chair, still fiddling with the donut on the small plate but watching Tala,  
"It's just bruised." He said honestly, it wasn't severe, he could still train.

He was feeling anxious again, he felt like everything was taking too long. Kai didn't seem to share his need for urgency in the matter, he just saw it as when Tala was ready. He watched Kai who finally took a bite out of the donut and chewed it before abandoning the rest of it and leaning forward to leave the plate on the table.  
Tala finished his and did the same with the plate.  
"When do you want to start?" Tala asked after a while, it was almost six pm.  
"As soon as possible."  
"You wanna go now?"  
Kai nodded.

Resigning himself to the idea of shivering a bit, Tala left the lounge and went upstairs quickly to fetch a second long sleeve sweater before heading back downstairs. He wore jeans and boots which Kai recommended, training in clothes you'll actually be wearing is advisable, is what he'd said.  
When he stepped into the back yard he spotted Kai closer to the lake waiting, staring at the water as it rippled in the slight winds. He closed the door behind him and started making his way down to the lake, not sure what to expect.

* * *

"Ahg!" Tala shouted as he skidded into a tree and Kai in his damned leather jacket was as composed as ever.  
Tala was frustrated as he righted himself, using the tree to steady himself,  
"How can you do those kicks and flips without skidding?" he kicked at the wet snow.  
"I do skid, but I brace myself for it. In all honestly the likeness of me falling is the same as you and it's the same for them." It was the way of mentioning the Vampires.  
"So they're not immune to slipping? Thank you god for your graces." He said sarcastically and he heard Kai snicker quietly.

Tala had wished to hear Kai laugh a while back after he'd heard Kai snicker for the first time, but he was content to know he and the other were comfortable enough for him to show his amusement.  
"Hey, Kai…?" Tala started and stood off the tree, ducking and nearly slipping when Kai tried to punch him.  
Kai swung again and Tala couldn't help the wet ice under his feet, Kai had stepped onto the area as well and when Tala grabbed for him, he grabbed for the tree.

But Tala's grasp on Kai's mid jacket was not enough to help him stay up and he slipped between Kai's wide legs as he tried to steady himself against the tree and pulled Kai forward enough for him to lose his grip and fall forward.  
The result was Kai on his knees over Tala's chest, hands in the snow above Tala's head and Tala's elbows on his thighs.

Tala started laughing and Kai smiled,  
"I don't think this training is going to work for you." He said evenly.  
Tala, ignoring the cold wetness creeping into his clothes, laughed incredulously,  
"Excuse me Mr Perfect Balance, you fell too." He informed.

Kai shifted backwards on the snow and got to his feet,  
"You pulled me down." He informed with his smirk and held his hand out for Tala.  
"Of course, it's my fault." Tala said sarcastically and took the freezing damp hand offered.  
Kai pulled him to his feet and he wobbled but stayed upright.  
"What were you going to ask me?" Kai remembered.  
Tala blinked and then shook his head with a smile,  
"I forgot…it's fine."

* * *

It was late night and they both knew they'd wasted the night joking and laughing about how many times they –or Tala specifically- managed to fall. Kai found it amusing every time with his snickers, a smile that revealed his fine white straight teeth. Tala had taken note of it, he'd analysed Kai from top to bottom in the passed weeks.

He'd grown fond of Kai and he assumed Kai had come to form the same kinship with him.  
A trust.

It was comforting having Kai there, it reassured him. Tala was certain had Kai not shown up then he'd have gotten himself killed and been buried before his parents bodies could start decomposing.  
The thought was grave but true…Kai was going to be the reason he survived his revenge.  
He watched Kai walk around him and mumble that they should go inside.  
He looked at the darkness falling over the lake, Tala had even been thinking that maybe he should just give this up…his parents were buried and gone and no man had killed them.

He had questioned whether he was being stupid but each time, Kai's words of those things nesting and growing scared him. He needed to end it in Moscow if he could…and then hope, like his parents did, that people around the world would do the same.  
He turned and walked up behind Kai through the trees toward the open area of the back yard to the Dacha.  
He watched Kai as he walked, his long jacket swaying with each step and his head down, he was thinking about something. Tala was about to call out and ask him what he was thinking about when he saw Kai's head turn up to the left and his eyes widened and then narrowed instantly.

Tala stopped walking and swallowed all of his air when he saw something practically gliding through the air toward Kai, Kai's arms shot out at the same time as Tala saw the attacker's arm's reach out and when they impacted, grabbing each other, the force of the attackers leap sent them flying to the right and Tala saw them hit the ground and roll.  
He'd never experienced such complete and utter fear burn hot through him but he got his legs moving and he rushed into the clearing in time to see them fight.

It was on its feet, every inch of it was a man, it walked and was silhouetted like a normal sized man in the dark fading evening light, but there was growling and Tala knew what it had to be…Kai had said that Vampires growl.  
It walked over to Kai lying on the ground and Tala's heart skipped a beat, he nearly choked on his panic when Kai flipped himself up faster than Tala would have thought possible and he spun round, landing a sound kick to the Vampires chest and he was thrown back.  
Rolling only a moment before it got to its feet.

Tala was only a few meters from it now. He held his breath. But it made no difference.  
It was snarling at Kai when it sniffed the air and turned to face Tala. Tala saw a face but it was distorted slightly by ridges at the eyebrows and cheek bones, whoever the man was identifiable enough but the fangs that he bared when he grinned at Tala sent horrible shivers down his spine.  
"Yummy." He heard it say right before it leapt at him.  
Tala swallowed a scream and he jumped out of the way, but it caught his flailing arm and pulled him to the ground.

Tala felt them roll and he focussed all of his energy on using the momentum, but he couldn't because they stopped abruptly in the roll and ice cold hands gripped his forearms to pull him up.  
Tala opened his eyes in time to see himself pulled forward and slammed into a tree, instantly opening a gash on his forehead. He was turned around roughly and shoved into the tree painfully, opening his eyes again despite the dizziness, Tala raised an arm to punch but he heard a snarl and felt the force with which the Vampire attacking him was yanked backwards.

Tala heard something hit another tree and he braced himself against the tree, opening his eyes again and focussing he saw the Vampire try to punch Kai but it didn't land. Kai grabbed his arm and snapped the bone with a sickening sound. Tala yelped when it hit Kai in the face and against Kai's pale glowing skin the blood was visible.  
Claws? No…nails, the description Kai gave had mentioned longer nails on certain vampires.

The hit didn't seem to phase Kai though as he handled the broken arm and received a howl of pain from the Vampire when he shoved it into the ground and stepped on its back.  
With full pressure on its spine Kai crouched down while it struggled and he pulled out a silver knife, it glinted in the fading light and Tala watched as Kai pulled the Vampires head back and cut its throat.

He continued cutting until the Vampire made another sound of pain and then Tala watched its clothes and then flesh start to cinder and in seconds it was crumbling into nothing beneath Kai's knee.  
When it was gone Kai glanced at the blood on his knife and then he looked around for Tala and when he spotted him he got up quickly.  
Tala walked on shaky legs towards him and was both startled and relieved when Kai lifted him off his feet and started carrying him toward the house.

Tala was a little too dazed at what he'd just seen to care that Kai seemed extremely cautious as they walked.  
They reached the door and Kai managed to open it, carrying Tala inside and setting him to sit on the table next to a bloody knife while Kai shut the door.  
"If there are others they wont be able to get inside the house…" Kai spoke and Tala sensed he was saying it to ease Tala's harsh breathing, he hadn't even realised he was breathing so hard.  
Tala nodded, glancing at the knife and then at Kai, he pushed himself off the table as Kai came toward him.  
"Did he bite you?" "Are you hurt?" they asked at the same time and stopped to stare at each other in the middle of the kitchen.

Tala shook his head after a moment,  
"No…he didn't bite me." He said the words in breathy disbelief as if it just occurred to him to take notice, "…but I think he wanted to. He said…he said, yu-yummy…when he saw me." He started shaking again.  
Kai grabbed his face with cold hands and made Tala look at him,  
"Calm down…you saw him die, you know they can be killed…"  
Tala nodded again and stared at the three and a half lines on Kai's face, drying dark blood sticking to the cuts, he looked between the cuts and Kai's eyes,  
"He…doesn't it hurt?" he asked quietly.

Kai let go of him and shook his head,  
"I'm fine. They're superficial, he caught me with his nails."  
"I know…I saw it." Tala said again quietly.  
Kai's breathing was quiet and Tala's was louder.  
"They're so strong…" he looked at Kai, "…how were you able to…"  
"Experience." Kai stated and glanced over Tala, seeing minimal blood from some scratches torn through his shirt on his arms.  
"Has that happened before?"

Kai took a hold of Tala's arm and pushed the torn sleeve up gently, Tala winced as he looked over the scratches,  
"No…it was in the area. It followed a…blood trail." He looked at Tala as he held his forearm.  
Tala didn't need too much explanation,  
"Was that…the one who-…"  
"It's likely. He followed a specific scent. Vampires can track for miles once they have a scent, especially blood scent. Your parents' would have led him directly here and he could smell it on you…the familiar smell."

Kai pulled the sleeve down again and let Tala's forearm go,  
"He just wanted to kill me…because he can't have been in need of blood badly enough to come out here from the city…" he reasoned and looked to Kai for confirmation.  
"That's true…but he was weak." Kai stated it like the words weren't scary.  
"That…that was weak?" he sounded like he couldn't believe it.  
Kai nodded,  
"Yes, he was. He was slower than they usually are and he had bite marks on his throat and arms…he'd been attacked by other vampires, they fed from him, weakened him." Kai told Tala.

He hadn't noticed all of that while he was nearly being killed, but Kai must have seen it since the Vampire had been wearing a short sleeve shirt and jeans. Kai was more attentive apparently.  
"He was probably hoping for an easy kill." Kai finished.  
"And I would have been just that. If it weren't for you he would have killed me…I'm fucking useless!" Tala shouted and grabbed his hair, "…all of the training and I could barely-…"  
"You weren't prepared." Kai defended Tala which was new.  
"You weren't either but you handled it just fine!" Tala turned on him.  
"Because I've seen it all before…once you kill one…it comes easier." Kai spoke calmly to him as he shrugged off his jacket.  
Tala's clothes had still been wet from lying in snow and it started to feel uncomfortable now with the added pain in his body. He had been helpless. He hated that feeling.

"Thank you Kai." He raised his eyes to look at Kai who was touching the cuts on his face, "…for killing the Vampire who killed my parents…at least one of them."  
Kai didn't say anything.

"I'm tired of waiting…I've had all the training I can get."  
Kai frowned at him.  
"If I can't apply what I've learned them I'm useless…we need to move now. Soon."  
"You can't do this just because your restless-…"  
"I'm not restless, I'm pissed off! I can't believe how I let that thing throw me around…"  
"You know he's stronger than you so-…"  
"Stop making excuses for me! Where's the Kai who pushed me this far?! Right now I need that Kai…" Tala shouted over Kai's words and turned and left the kitchen.

* * *

Tala knew what he had to do and he wasn't going to back down from it, he couldn't wait any longer because the longer he waited the more afraid he'd become. He didn't want to tell Kai that but the other hadn't said another word to him since two nights ago in the kitchen.

Their training had separated again.  
It hurt in some way and it scared Tala because he was worried that Kai was angry and that he'd have to face the nest alone.  
But he had to do it.  
Tala dressed himself in all black, his tight shirt covered by a tight black jacket and reasonably fitted but not hindering black jeans and his well fastened combat boots.

He'd placed as much weapons on his person as was possible and he'd been replaying images in his head of his parents possible death to keep him pumped.  
He walked up the stairs from the training room, night was just falling and he had to drive back into the city which reminded him of the last thing he needed. He'd been thinking about it a lot and it was the one thing he hadn't been able to get Kai to talk about.  
Tala walked through the house and then upstairs again, coming to his room door and knocking once before waiting.  
Kai had gotten into the habit of answering his door and as expected he did, pulling it open and leaning in the doorway. He was fully dressed in his usual standard colors and clothes.  
"I need to know where the nest is." Tala decided not to be weak about this.  
"Tala…"

"Kai…just tell me. I'm not asking you to come with me." His sure expression faltered when Kai narrowed his eyes.  
Without saying anything he disappeared inside the room and Tala peered in after him, he saw Kai grab his jacket and his heart beat faster, grateful that Kai would be coming…or maybe leaving him. He felt nauseous at that thought.  
He stepped back when Kai slipped out of the room, pulling on his jacket and when Tala heard him say 'let's go' he didn't hesitate to follow.  
At the bottom of the stairs Kai turned in the direction of the basement so Tala waited for him, he was obviously going to fetch some weapons.

A few minutes later when he came back up Tala couldn't tell where he carried anything, but he walked by Tala in easy confident strides and he followed Kai in to the kitchen and outside in to the backyard.  
Tala tried not to think about what had happened two days before and he walked to his car,  
"We're taking my bike." Kai walked by and grabbed his keys from his hand before he reached his car.

He watched Kai walk around to the bike parked alongside the car and he easily got on, swinging his leg over and slipping Tala's keys into his pocket in the same movement.  
It was cold outside but not bad enough to shiver too much so Tala just told himself he was deciding to go with Kai on the bike and not being forced.  
He walked around and stood beside the bike,  
"You only have one helmet." He pointed out and Kai glanced at him as he started the bike up.  
"You wear it, I'll be fine."  
"That's danger-…"  
"Tala, get on the bike." Kai yelled over his revving.  
Picking the helmet up from the seat Tala pulled it over his hair, not looking forward to it making his hair look flat but for safety and then he lifted his leg over.

He sat on the seat and placed his feet on the bars meant for a second person and felt nervous when Kai revved the bike again,  
"Hold on…" he heard Kai say.  
Straddling Kai that way was strange enough for Tala but when he placed his arms around Kai's waist and felt Kai tense he felt even stranger but he only tightened his grip when he felt Kai kick off the support stand and level the bike, he'd never been on a motorcycle before.  
Without much more warning Kai revved and the bike moved forward this time, Tala gripped tighter still and his thighs tensed as well, the bike was powerful and when they started moving forward he closed his eyes.

* * *

Once on the main road Kai picked up speed far more and Tala held his breath but opened his eyes, watching everything just zip by while the cold air went around him because of Kai's frame in front of him. Tala turned his head from the side and raised it, he tried to look over Kai's shoulder through the open visor but the cold wind stung his eyes, so he peered up at Kai and saw the side of his face, he looked fine so he went back to watching the side of the roads.

Inside the city just under an hour later he was watching the lights, he missed the city…he couldn't wait to move back.  
He watched the night life go by, just doing what they always did, living carelessly when he was practically undertaking a suicide mission…  
He sighed to himself and let the thoughts fade away as they drove.  
Some time later in a less populated area of Moscow, the streets empty and clean, Kai turned off the road and drove into an open parking space. When he came to a stop and dropped his legs, Tala adjusted his balance and leaned back to look at the building,  
"This is the Russian State Library…"  
"This is above the nest, below the library basement is older built basements, before they remodelled…" he spoke resigned and quietly and he glanced back at Tala.

Realising Kai wanted him to get off, he did so using the hand bars behind him and all at once he blushed as he stood on solid ground again holding a handle bar.  
'That's why he tensed…he meant for me to hold onto these…' he felt ridiculously embarrassed and he glanced at Kai as he got off the bike, face in his usual no emotion mask and hair lying over his nape and hanging at the sides of his face as he switched off the motorcycle and adjusted the support bar.  
'But…he didn't say anything…so maybe…' he didn't know so maybe what but he assumed Kai had been extremely polite about the situation.  
"How do we…uh, get under…there." he caught up to Kai who had started walking away.  
"They've cut a tunnel from the sewers…" he stopped at a manhole in the parking lot.  
Tala stared at him,  
"In the…sewers."  
Kai looked at him with a 'yes' expression, he no longer even had to say for Tala to recognize it. Kai leaned down and as if he'd known it wasn't bolted down, he lifted it out with no visible effort and laid it at his side,  
"I'll go fir-..."  
"Wait…" Tala said quickly.

Kai was still crouched down so he looked up at Tala,  
"Don't be scared…I told you. Face anyone of them you see with intent to kill."  
"I know…and thank you…for everything." Tala nodded and stepped around the manhole, making Kai stand up but not step back as he might have a few weeks ago.  
Tala just allowed himself to hug the other, putting his arms around Kai's neck and under his arm, Kai went a bit stiff at first but relaxed after a moment and Tala squeezed tighter, still surprised about how cold his face was against the side of Kai's neck.

He pulled back and glanced at the manhole,  
"If I die…or we…or whatever…" he smiled bitterly, "…I wanted to say I'm glad I met you. And worked with you…" he looked at Kai who just looked back at him blankly.  
He gave no reaction to Tala's words so the red head stepped back and Kai crouched down again,  
"Come down right after me." He said quietly and then he climbed into the hole and disappeared as he went down the steel rungs.

Doing as told, Tala waited until he saw Kai was far down enough and he started to climb in, glad he decided to wear gloves.  
Inside smelled quite bad, not like Tala would have expected but then this was a rain water manhole which would…the lower they went, lead closer to actual sewerage.

Kai gave him a nod and Tala nodded as well and followed behind him as he walked.  
Tala was grateful they didn't have to go too low, it branched off to an emptier pipe section which was through a break in a rain water filter pipe, made by someone, not from natural breakage.  
The cementing had been drilled and broken through, obviously for access to where they were headed now.

It was dark in the pipes and Tala could barely make Kai out ahead of him, if Kai felt the same it didn't show because he walked with accuracy, turning and climbing down into the dark. They eventually reached another brake in the unused pipes and Kai crouched down and climbed through the convenient slightly larger than crawl sized hole.  
Tala crawled through after Kai, it was quite thick as he crept through, able to see a part of Kai's coat waiting for him in a dully lit room through the space.

Reaching the end he climbed out and absently dusted his clothes of the small cement sandy fragments while looking from Kai's face around the small room. It looked like a small storage room with nothing in it except a dull orange light and empty steel shelves, then there was the obvious door.  
"Let me guess…we go through there." he stared at the door anxiously.  
Kai looked at him and he met his eyes, almost a shiny black in the bad lighting,  
"There are two possible places the leaders room will be. I worked it out based on the old blueprints of this libraries basements." He reached into the back pocket of his leather pants and took out a small piece of paper,  
"I've memorized both directions to the rooms, you should go to this one…it's the shorter distance from here…"  
"We're…separating?" Tala stared wide eyed at Kai as the paper was held out to him.

Kai seemed to think about it for a moment before he nodded,  
"It's better…it's late and most of the Vampires will be out somewhere. If we are together we're likely to be spotted faster…" Kai looked unsettled, "…some of these…Vampire's have seen me before Tala." He had great hesitation to tell Tala that and he noticed it.  
Tala shifted on his feet, frowning,  
"How come?"  
"Because I've killed many of their little groups and in a pair it'll be harder to stay unseen. I told you, we aren't meant to take on the smaller ones, just the leader."  
Tala had heard the strategy weeks ago during training, Kai had laid out the plan. Attack at night when 70 per cent of the vampires are out. Stay in the shadows and only go for the leader, apparently he would identify himself as the leader in any confrontation, something to do with power. Tala didn't care about all that, he was more worried about being left alone,  
"Won't they smell me…my blood?"  
"Chances are none of these Vampire's have ever had your scent before, the one that attacked us was not a part of this nest or he would never have been attacked like that. You aren't cut or with open wounds are you?" Kai asked with a raised eyebrow and with a blink at the thought of it, Tala shook his head.  
"Then your blood signal will be faint, if they're close enough they'll smell you for sure but otherwise…compared to all the blood spilled in there, yours will just mingle…but, don't let that take you off your guard. In their nests where they're comfortable, they can be distracted enough to not pay attention but anyone of them might follow a faint unfamiliar blood signal if they think someone's brought dinner home…be alert." Kai said it so casually.

Tala wanted to complain but they were here because of him and this was what he wanted, he nodded firmly and took the paper from Kai, glancing over the directions to a room of the basements only two lefts and one right from the room they stood in.  
"So I go here and you'll go to-…"  
"It's another room, not too far from the one you're going to, the most well secured rooms. During the early basement years they were locked storage areas…"  
'Big bad Vampires like to be protected." Tala said bitterly.  
"When you've existed that long…the idea of ceasing to seems like a greater loss." Kai mumbled.  
Tala laughed a bit,  
"I would have thought it'd be the opposite." He mumbled back.  
Kai shook his head,  
"No…they cling to it. The longer they exist, the more afraid they are to die."  
Tala sighed,  
"Well…he has to go…" Tala took out a stake from a weapons strap on his thigh and gave it a turn in his palm before gripping it firmly, "…I think that thing is happening…" he grinned.  
Kai smirked,  
"Adrenalin…?"  
Tala nodded,  
"Yeah…tingly and scary. Like a rush…" he glanced at the door, "…oh and Kai. I'm sorry ab-…" his apology was cut short when Kai's cold hand took his chin and brought Tala's face to look at him,  
"If anything happens…scream for me." He said very seriously.

Tala didn't know why but he blushed and turned his face out of Kai's slight hold, he nodded shortly and then stood up straighter,  
"I'm hoping I'll be the hero here…don't steal my thunder." He tipped his head to Kai with a raised eyebrow and his red bangs flicked, making him look every bit as cheeky as he felt.  
Kai just smiled a bit more and nodded, gesturing toward the door.

His steps felt heavy but he made them over to the door and as he reached for the handle Kai beat him to it and placed an arm to push Tala back so he could go first. Kai pulled the door open and it was old so it was noisy, but there was silence in the meter half wide passage outside the door and there was no light.  
"Will you able to navigate?" Kai asked quietly.  
Tala nodded and glanced at the small drawn directions and then after Kai glanced down both ends of the hall he stepped out and Kai followed. They looked at each other and Kai nodded to him, Tala smiled in the dark and then nodded back, he turned and started walking down the left hall, his hand finding the wall to guide him to his first turn…

Tala knew he couldn't get lost, the passages were long but straight, he passed the occasional door, he felt them before he noticed them, but he followed the direction in his head to the mark. When he reached the final right he took a breath and looked around the corner, only one end, the room was a dead end.  
He squinted in the dark, clutching the stake firmly when he saw the heavy gate in front of the door was open wide and the door was ajar, he couldn't hear anything beyond the door though.

He took a silent breath and egged him self on, he thought it was possible the 'leader' was just quiet and like Kai had said, confident so he would be sitting unawares of his coming death.  
'Be strong, don't be afraid…Kai says they can smell fear…like dogs.' He sneered inwardly as he walked silently toward the door, his boots despite their heavy weight were silent as he stepped, the refined art of being stealthy.  
Another thing Kai had helped him hone.

He finally reached the door and reached his free hand forward, realising he was shaking when he did so and watched his unstable fingers press against the door and push it open really slowly. Tala felt all of his hair stand on edge as cold air from the room came over him…there was no light in the room at all…pitch black.  
'Jesus…' he thought miserably, he couldn't even make out a wall.

Tala reached to the utility belt on his waist, he had a tiny flashlight strapped in. Kai had said it was not a good idea because it would bring notice to him but here in the dark where there was nothing but things that could kill him, might as well be able to see them.  
He pulled it out and held it, palm size, he switched it on and sighed quietly in relief when he was able to see clearly through the door from the beam of light, there was nothing directly a head of him.  
He walked a bit steadier now that he could see where he was going.

He stepped into the room and moved the angle of the light around, it was a large space and there was furniture in the room. Dirty mattresses and beds, about six of them around the room, there'd been a bad smell all the way and now he smelled it worse. It was a mixture of dead bodies and blood, he was glad his gag reflex was strong…he kept his breakfast down.  
As he stepped further in and looked around he noticed small things, like a woman's shoe laying stray in a corner. There was a pile of emptied satchels and purses as well, emptied wallets, or so it appeared as he flashed the light over it. There were some clothes on the old steel shelves of the storage room, a mixture of women's and men's. He was mostly indifferent to it, Kai had told him a while back that down in their resting place he would likely see some horrible things.

That was confirmed when he saw a bone, a human bone, it was small and he couldn't tell what bone it was since it was obviously partially shattered where it lay peeking out from under a mattress. He shuddered and turned to look at the other mattresses and it was when he saw a little girls doll without a head or arm laying on a mattress that he really felt his insides quiver. It could have been a victim…but then again Kai said some Vampires who were turned sometimes turned their children.

Remaining a child Vampire for all eternity seemed worse than being a damned adult.  
Tala sighed again and with a tired few blinks into the direction of the light, he decided that with all these mattresses no leader was staying in that room.  
'Maybe Kai's had better luck…' he turned around to leave.  
But he was racked with a frightened shudder so powerful that he nearly dropped the flashlight, standing in the doorway were two men…both were Vampires in their 'revealed state', faces slightly contorted with ridges and teeth bared.

He knew he shouldn't have but he backed up a step and by the grin on their faces they could smell his disgusting fear like a target call.  
He still held the stake and he gripped it tighter to his side, partially concealed in the dark, he slowly let his feet spread apart to ground himself as he kept the flashlight on their slightly deformed faces. He wanted to do exactly as Kai had taught him but in the dark around them he could not navigate with his eyes…he had to use his senses.  
"It's not very often we find something this sweet looking just waiting around." The first and taller one said to another, who looked decidedly scarier and meaner than his larger friend, his hair was long and tied back.  
He smiled at Tala and to his horror, he watched the fangs extend just a bit more,  
"I'll leave you some Gary…" the shorter one said as he advanced on Tala.

Adrenalin rushed as he came at Tala, the red head tossed the flash light up and as it flicked light around randomly, he dropped and rolled to the side.  
When it hit the ground he heard the Vampire who had attacked growl lowly,  
"I can see you…"  
Tala felt a hand grab his throat as his eyes followed the flashlights casting on the ground, Gary was still at the door. On instinct and completely against Kai's teaching, Tala fought physically.  
He punched and even though it hurt his hand, he felt the Vampire's head knock to the side but the grip only tightened,  
"Like a fly…"

There was some laughter from the larger guy,  
"He thinks he can hurt you Lee." Gary was laughing and Tala could hear the sneer as air was trapped from his lungs.  
He was yanked forward by the hand at his throat, Lee taking grip of the back of his head as well with his other hand and he felt Lee's long unruly tied hair against the side of his face, he cringed when the other sniffed the side of his face,  
"Hmmm…virgin. Your blood is untainted…" Tala made a strangled sound of anger when he paled at the others words and felt a wet tongue run over his jaw line and cheek…and then the long pointed fangs grazed his cheek and the Vampire made a sound that could only be identified as lustful…for the blood in Tala's veins.

Blinking away the strain of his throat and his lack of air, using his free hand which had been gripping the wrist of the Vampire hand at his throat all the while, he gripped the front of the shirt Lee wore, hearing the chuckle, Tala smirked.  
With all of his accuracy and strength, he grasped Lee's shirt and pushed him back just enough, Tala raised his arm and shoved the stake blindly where he was hopeful the heart of the vampire was.

In the dark with his eyes half opened he watched the light, seeing Gary's feet shift. Tala knew he penetrated firm flesh and muscle, his hand still gripped the stake and then he felt the fingers around his throat start to twitch and then burn.  
Suddenly the room was alight with a dull orange glow and Tala's neck started burning, he pulled the stake out of the slowly incinerating flesh and shoved Lee backwards, clearly able to see the flesh flames burn through his clothes.

His face in an angry snarl so frightening Tala had to force himself not to yelp as Lee snarled but fell away where he stood. The smell of the searing flesh was overwhelming and Tala covered his mouth with his free hand just as Lee screamed and doubled over with shakes and pain before disintegrating to dust in a small burst of flames.  
Just before the light faded again, Tala was able to see the pissed off expression of the larger Vamp and it attacked.

Tala jumped sideways and kicked out, catching it with a uselessly weak kick but at least it was off balance and he identified the sound of something hit the ground. He made a straight cut for the door, grabbing the flashlight and pointing it at the doorway Tala's hand squeezed the stake tighter when he saw two shorter Vampires standing behind one with his arms crossed over his chest,  
"What do we have here?" said the main Vampire in his human appearance, taller than Tala easily with an expression of pure menace. His hair a faded silver lilac and his teeth sliding against each other as he moved his lower jaw side to side with his grin.  
"He killed Lee…" Gary's growl came from behind and Tala dropped the flashlight when a large arm came round him and a forearm as strong as a steel rod closed against his throat and the ground beneath his feet was lost when the large Vampire raised him off the ground.

Tala had dropped the stake in panic since it felt like his throat was being crushed, he grit his teeth and shut his eyes, grabbing at the forearm at his throat desperately and kicking his legs.  
"I'll kill him…" Gary said and Tala went cold with fear, he couldn't even scream.  
"No…don't snap that pretty little neck…" was the words of the lilac haired Vampire, "…why don't you boys share, Kevin and Ian haven't eaten…" Tala couldn't see anything because he was loosing consciousness but he was certain that Kevin and Ian were the two Vampires with the main one.  
'Is…he the…le..leader?' Tala wondered as he felt his mouth dry and his heart beat slow from lack of oxygen, then the grip was released and Tala dropped hard to the ground, on his knees first but then slipped and he was almost flat on his front, legs half bent underneath him, hands separating his face just barely from the ground as he wheezed and coughed painfully, his throat burned.  
"Make it slow…savour it. He's a pure blood mortal, it'll be like a treat for you boys…" he was laughing darkly and Tala's eyes opened to the darkness, he looked over the ground for the flashlight and spotted it pointing at nothing.

So dark…so cold.

The sounds of snarls and growls was the only warning he had before he felt his hair grabbed and he was yanked backwards and onto his knees. Then it happened…a piercing pain so intense at the top of his shoulder, seeping sharp like so many thick needles in to his trapezius muscle. Tala's back arched before he went rigid at the pain and his hands automatically tried to grip at whatever was behind him…Gary he knew…was biting him.

His eyes widened and watered, '…pain…full…'

Kai had said it hurt but…Tala could almost not breathe enough to scream and he made choked noises as the wetness of the mouth started to suckle. As if the very energy was being sapped from his system Tala let out a shuddering breath, his arms still trying to clutch at Gary while the most horrible yet disarming and weakening sensation started to come over him…the pain fading.

And then hands…cold hands grabbed his arms and held them down and he felt himself leaned back against Gary. He opened his mouth to another shuddering silent scream when he was bit again…by another one on his stomach. He was slipping, his throat tensing at the pressure he felt choked by and his fingers started twitching right as another bite sunk into his upper thigh…right through his clothes.

Tears fell from his eyes as his very blood was sucked from his body in forceful rushes that made him dizzy and cold,  
"Savour it boys…" the dark voice echoed in Tala's hollowing mind.  
He found his voice to scream when the bite at his neck was stopped, the teeth extracting from so deep in his flesh, he felt his blood run hot over his cold skin as it leaked from the wound.  
The growl of satisfaction from Gary caused Tala to sob and he grit his teeth in pain when Gary bit back and started drinking again.  
'Scream for me…' Kai's words forced the air from Tala's lungs it ripped loudly from his throat,  
"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAI!"


	5. Chapter 5

Kai walked through the halls quietly and cautiously, he honestly didn't want to be spotted by any Vampires. In a nest as large as he estimated this one to be after how long it had been there, even if he took out thirty or forty of them…eventually they'd kill him.

Dying was not on his agenda.

He hadn't wanted to send Tala off on his own but in a confrontation involving Kai the violence would escalate passed anything Tala could handle. On his own, he would be quieter and unseen…Kai hoped.

He supposed it was best to just move through this quickly…if he found the leader first he'd kill him quick but he doubted it would happen.

He'd sent Tala to the more abandoned side of the basement as he went further in where he expected to find something he didn't want to see, but he wasn't going to risk Tala coming down to the real nest with him, he'd be like a walking dancing dinner invitation.

Every part of him hoped that there was no one up there and that Tala was fine, but he didn't want to be distracted by thoughts of Tala, it was counter productive. The protectiveness he felt for the younger man was no good at a time like this when no ordinary amount of protection could help.

Kai finally turned a corner to what he knew used to be the dead end of the basement east wing and he narrowed his eyes at the hole in the ground. The concrete flooring was dug through and a hole the size of the hall width and as long as 2 meters was gaping in the ground.

"This should be it…" he dreaded seeing the extent of the nest, he dreaded knowing how much it had grown since he'd last seen it, but it was necessary. He was supposed to have done this for Ania and Stas before they planned a much larger scaled attack…but whatever had changed those plans left only a broken and vengeful son behind and Kai would not let him die.

He walked to the hole and looked down, as expected there was light…it would most likely be mystical lamps…magic power harnessed by the weaker Vampires who served no hunting purpose.  
He hadn't seen a witch in a while…they were usually really dangerous but if you could get your hands on them, easy to kill.

He jumped through the hole, it was a few feet drop to the ground level hollowed out below.

He landed in a crouch and his leather duster fell after him, settling on the ground behind him. Brown earth underneath his boots, he was literally under the earth surface now, probably over 50 feet deep and it was warm down there.

Kai looked around the hollowed out area around him with two magic lights held in wood lamps jutting out of the ground walls, he looked up and saw the hole just a meter and a half higher.  
He stood up and knew it'd be easy to get back up but the thing that became clear to him standing on the small ground patch beneath the old basement was the he was on a ledge…

He walked toward the edge of the hollowed out area and his eyes widened when he looked down hundreds of feet into the nest. Ledges and hollows all around a large drop and at the bottom Kai saw it, the largest hollow and the numbers of vampires down there…convening.

Exactly as he expected…he was down there. The leader of this nest living in the safest place…where no one could get to him without going through his army at the very bottom of the pit.  
He wasn't happy that his theory had been confirmed…Stas and Ania had wanted to use a small human team to do this, but unless they were all super human, they would all die.

He had to get Tala out of here…

"Well well well…look who's come to visit us lowly nesting Vampires."

He instantly recognized the voice and rolled his eyes as he turned around and focused his red eyes on an old familiar.  
"Rei…still running with the rats." Kai smirked at him and the other grinned back.  
Rei was shorter than Kai and smaller built but Kai knew that what he lacked in size he made up for in his freakish agility, whatever he'd been before a Vampire had made him flexible.

He was dressed as Kai remembered, always in tight clothes and this time full grey old leather, his yellow eyes were scanning Kai's appearance with unrestrained interest.  
"You look…the same." Rei decided after his scrutiny of Kai.  
"Were you expecting any different?" he humoured the other and watched him as he took small non-hostile steps side to side, just observing Kai as Kai observed him.  
"I thought maybe you'd get a cape…some spandex. You know, don the hero look what with your chosen occupation and all." he laughed to himself darkly.

Kai just tilted his head and watched Rei with caution, fully aware that behind him was a drop into a Vampire nest filled with enemies just like Rei and the bastard could jump with quite a fast spring. Foreseeing the problem, Kai side stepped himself, away from the edge and he saw Rei smirk at him amused.  
"Your edgy…you know your in a dangerous place. Not very many of them…" he gestured to the drop down, "...would be happy to see you."  
"None of them actually…" Kai corrected.  
"Oh…no Kai. You know I've always liked you."  
"Nothing better than being killed by a friend." Kai smiled pleasantly at him as he continued stepping away from the edge.

Rei laughed and looked over the edge that he'd made his way over to,  
"What are you doing here? Planning on killing the new leader?" he turned serious and dangerous very quickly.  
Kai smirked at the change,  
"Just taking a look…" he stopped walking once he was away from the edge.  
Rei turned to him,  
"Just because your some loner type doesn't mean you have to break up the happy home, Kai." He said angrily.  
"I don't sympathize."

Rei's feet shifted,  
"Then I'm just going to have to make you."  
Kai narrowed his eyes and braced himself, Rei leapt at him and Kai went forward as well. The agile dark haired male caught Kai with a solid punch to his face from a high angle, while Kai caught Rei's lower half with a high kick to his side.

Rei made a sound of pain as he flew side ways and hit the ground, rolling into the side of the hollow and Kai spat out blood and licked his lower lip where it bled.  
Rei got up into a crouch and he breathed heavily and watched Kai, his side aching,  
"You've gotten stronger."  
"I thought you said I was the same."  
"I missed you Kai…but I will kill you."  
"You will try." Kai said back just as surely.

Rei got up and came at Kai with two punches, Kai avoided them and swung his own punch at Rei but his agility allowed him to fall back into a flip and catch Kai with two kicks to his jaw as Rei brought his legs over, landing in another crouch.

Kai righted himself quickly, smirking because Tala loved that move…but he'd never been able to land it on Kai.  
Kai advanced this time and Rei swiped a kick out at his legs, Kai jumped over it and kicked Rei in the side of his face.

He was on his feet quickly though even as blood trickled from his mouth.  
"Want a taste?" he quipped with a sneer.  
"I'm good thanks." Kai advanced again, becoming annoyed.

He punched and Rei ducked the first one but the second one was to his ribs and Kai landed it with applied force, making Rei grab his side and skid in the dirt. He punched back and caught Kai's side but not with enough force to hurt badly.  
Kai grabbed his hair and pulled Rei round, tossing him across the space face first straight into the ground wall.

Rei skidded to his feet, his long wrapped black hair swinging as he ran at Kai again.  
Kai wasn't even trying.

Rei swung furiously at him and then tried to kick, but Kai deflected the main hits and avoided the other, punching Rei in his chest and forcing him backwards before following through with a kick to his sternum, making him stumble backwards and cough up blood.

Kai's hits were solid and Rei was feeling it as he tasted his own blood.

Moving quicker than before, his leg shooting out to Kai's knee and Kai moved his foot backwards and spun round, making his jacket flare up in Rei's face before Kai turned around and punched him straight to the side of his face.  
The blood flew from Rei's mouth and he fell down with a growl.

But he kicked up, catching Kai in the stomach and again to his side, force behind the hits. Kai ducked the last hit and grabbed Rei at the front of his clothing, heading him and then shoving him backwards in his dizzy state.  
Rei growled and shook his head as his revealed self came forward, teeth sharpening and extending, his eyes becoming a gleaming dangerous yellow as he snarled at Kai,  
"Enough games…you know I don't like foreplay."

"KAI!"

The sound rung out a like a siren in Kai's head and his eyes narrowed dangerously at Rei who looked astonished and intrigued at the call, no doubt with something so obvious, he could now smell fresh blood because he was ware someone else was there.  
Kai was not about to let Rei near him,  
"I guess we'll have to wrap this up then…" he said lowly and attacked.

Rei moved as well but not fast enough, Kai had jumped into the air and twisted bringing a full force kick down on Rei's face and sending him reeling to the side, where the drop was.  
Kai knew the fall wouldn't kill Rei and he couldn't risk the other getting down there and telling them about a mortal being there, they'd track his scent without a hitch no matter where he was.

So where Rei landed at the edge, a bruise forming to the side of his face, Kai landed firmly and walked over, taking out  
a stake.

Rei immediately blanched and went to get up and probably jump down but Kai snatched out and caught his long binding of hair and yanked him backwards so he hit the ground of his back. Before he could say anything Kai staked him through his heart and didn't wait to watch him burn.

He was gone, up and through the hole and he heard Rei's last cry of pain as he rushed to where Tala was.

Kai ran without caution, fully prepared to kill anything he came across and it felt like forever before he reached the door they'd entered through and saw it was opened. He ran straight passed in the direction he'd given Tala and rounded the last corner after a minute.

Kai rushed into the room and when he got inside he saw the flashlight on the ground and then he saw Tala, pale as a ghost, his eyes a strained red, mouth parted and choking for breath and his fingers twitching as he clutched at…Kai saw the Vampire drinking from Tala…only one…left in the room.

It was suckling at his stomach and Tala was weakly trying to pull him off but he was almost gone already, Kai could see the lack of color in his iris's.

In the few seconds it took him to notice this, he grabbed the smaller Vampire and without mercy Kai snapped his neck, it made a sound of shock and when he dropped to the ground, temporarily disarmed, Kai used the stake he'd killed Rei with and finished it quickly.

Stepping over him while he started to burn, Kai rushed to Tala and leaned over him, hands on either side of Tala's head on the cold floor he searched Tala's empty eyes,  
"Tala…can you…sp-speak?" he heard himself stutter as he stared into Tala's trembling face.

His pale eyes barely focused on Kai and he knew just right then by the whiteness of his mouth and lack of veins visible in his neck that Tala was almost empty…a moment later and the last Vampire would have cleaned him out of any blood.

He could see the other bite marks…they'd bitten in more than one place as well and let Tala bleed for a short while since there was some blood in the hair at Tala's nape and one the floor beneath him. Kai could see this all clearly even with the flashlight facing off at the far wall.  
"…K…hai…" Tala was breathless as he tried to look at Kai, there were no veins visible in the whites of his eyes, Kai felt pain constricting his chest as he watched this.

He could not let Tala die like that…he wouldn't.

Biting down on his jaw as he kept hearing in his head that this was all his fault, he could have stopped Tala from coming, Kai pulled out a knife from his jacket and kneeled at Tala's side.  
"I won't let you die like this…"

Tala's eyes drifted away and a tear slipped down the side of his face, Kai slit his right wrist easily open and his blood pushed through the severed flesh, thick and red.  
He leaned back over Tala and slipped a hand under his head, lifting it to an angle as he positioned his bleeding wrist over Tala's parted mouth.

His blood slipped steadily from his wrist into Tala's mouth, messing pure red against his pallid white colorless lips, but Tala's tongue moved and slowly the liquid slipped down his throat.  
Kai leaned his wrist closer and squeezed his fist so more blood flowed and Tala's eyes closed slightly but Kai watched the swallowing motion in his throat.

He stared down at Tala's beautiful pained face and shook his head,  
"I'm sorry…"

* * *

Hours later Kai sat on the bed beside Tala in silence.

He'd been still, unmoving as the dead for almost twelve straight hours. The sun was bright outside but Kai kept all curtains closed and the sun out.

There was no breathing in the room. No heart beats in the room. Just silence.

He'd gone over it in his head many times since he'd left the nest with Tala…a moment later and Tala would have been…gone.  
"I should never have let him go down there…" he said quietly to himself and turned back to look at Tala.

Kai sighed deeply, as sinful as it was…Tala was even more stunning to him now than before. He'd always thought the boy in the pictures was undeniably breath taking.  
So unusual looking with such defined and perfectly proportioned features.

When he'd seen him that day in the house…he'd known immediately who it was but wouldn't say so. Lest the other become even more uncomfortable…the news of Stas and Ania's death had been unexpected though.  
He'd been fully prepared to leave and watch from a distance, keeping Tala safe in case anything came after him. But when Tala asked him to stay and help, he'd felt better.

The idea of leaving him to fend for himself was unsettling.

Kai had been content to just be there and know that Tala was alive…but then the other became a bit more bothersome, wanted more interaction that would include contact.  
It was hard enough not being caught out in regular circumstances…but how Tala hadn't noticed after the obvious signs, Kai didn't know. Tala's parents had known…but he'd sensed that Tala was clueless from the moment he walked into the house.

Tala confirmed it by saying his parents hadn't really told him anything…

He was glad that even with training Tala had seemed oblivious, it allowed him to say and keep watch over the other…then he let him go to the nest when he shouldn't have…

He turned on the bed to look at Tala properly and shifted to lean over him, placing one arm on the other side of Tala's lean frame as he lay on his back, hands at his sides and legs flat.  
"I'm sorry I had to do this to you…" he said quietly, "…but I couldn't let that be the end…" he stared down into the deadly pale skin and leaned his head down so his nose was touching Tala's, there was no breath but Tala was still in that body.

Tala wasn't technically alive…but…

Kai brushed his lips against Tala's and closed his eyes, trying not to picture the bite marks he knew were underneath the thin sheet covering Tala's clothed body. He'd covered Tala up just so he wouldn't have to look at them. He wanted to scream he was so angry…

The shock in his system when he'd heard Tala scream for him was nothing compared to the sick pain he felt when he saw the other laying there…been fed from like…

He parted his lips just above Tala's when,  
"Kai?"  
Kai pulled back from Tala quickly and opened his eyes to find crystal almost colorless blue eyes looking up at him, a small confused frown on Tala's delicate cold face.  
"Tala…" he said back awkwardly.  
"What…were you doing?" Tala blinked a few times.  
"Check…checking…if you were breathing." He lied with an awkward expression.  
"Oh." Tala sighed and just closed his eyes again, "…I feel sick…"

Kai knew he wouldn't remember straight away…it'd take a few minutes.  
"What happened…where am…" he sat up slowly and the sheet fell down, Kai saw the two bite marks next to each other on Tala's top shoulder muscle. His shirt was ripped a bit where the bites were, on his stomach and thigh as well.  
"This is my apartment…" he frowned and looked around the bedroom, bright enough to see because of the sunlight through the curtains.  
"Yeah…" Kai had sat back more and was waiting for it to come to Tala.  
"…how did I get here?"  
He took a small breath,  
"I had to bring you here…to recover." He added to help Tala along.

Tala blinked and frowned tiredly,  
"Recover from wha-…" he didn't finish and Kai saw the realization hit him right then and instinctively he reached up and touched the bites at his neck and pulled his hand away from the holes there in complete panic and shock. He looked down and threw the sheet off himself, seeing the bite to the side of his abdomen and on his thigh.  
"I was…d-dying. I could feel myself dying…Kai…" he pulled his legs up and curled his arms around his knees defensively, his eyes turning to Kai with questions and…gratefulness.  
"Did you…save me somehow?"

Kai didn't know how to answer that…yes he'd saved him from ceasing to exist…but he hadn't saved his life. Because Tala was dead so he didn't answer and he just looked away and around the room.  
Tala sighed again,  
"Thank you…once again I was useless…terrified and helpless like some scared child." He said quietly and absently scratched at the bites, itching as they healed at an accelerated speed. Tala was not yet aware that he felt no physical pain at all after everything he'd been through…he wasn't aware that inside his chest was no beating heart.

Kai remained quiet.  
Tala looked at him,  
"How did you find this place, I've never brought you here or told you where it was?" he was asking innocently enough.  
Kai didn't know why but he continued to be evasive,  
"I…it wasn't hard to find Tala and it was the nearest place of safety for you." He admitted without looking at Tala.  
"Are you upset…disappointed in me for being so pathetic? I killed one…Lee…or something." He was remembering, unaware of the monotone of his voice.

Kai remembered Lee, tough Vampire…but his mouth was too big and he was easily distracted by his ego and aggression.

Tala had killed him?  
"That's excellent…he was a strong Vampire." He said honestly.  
"So what is it then…what's wrong…we're alive. We're safe…" Tala moved so he could look at Kai who just turned away again and Tala grabbed his shoulder and turned Kai's upper body so Kai looked at him.

Tala noticed Kai didn't feel cold anymore like he usually did through his clothes, he wasn't wearing his jacket so he should have felt cold.  
"Tell me what's wrong…please?" Tala asked quietly.

Kai looked into his face and reached up to take Tala's hand on his shoulder into his own, Tala felt like he would blush but he didn't feel his face warm like it usually would.  
Kai took his hand and uncurled his thin fingers, turning his hand and moving the flat of Tala's palm to press against his own chest over his heart, Kai held his hand over the other's against Tala's chest and looked at Tala's face again.

Tala wasn't looking at him, he was trying to understand what Kai was doing, he took a moment to again notice Kai's hand was not cold over his and then the silence in the room settled in and he noticed he wasn't breathing, so he started breathing…in and out…but then he noticed that he hadn't been holding his breath.  
Tala's hand pressed harder against his chest and he clutched at his shirt as Kai pulled his own hand away…

…he had no heart beat…

"Wha…?" he breathed, "…how…?" eyes wide.  
"You were dying…I…had to…" Kai said quietly.  
"You had to what?! What did you do?!" Tala looked at Kai in shock.  
"I had to…" he knew Tala wouldn't remember his last moments, he'd been too far gone. "Tala…to save you…I had to…" he struggled with the words and watched Tala's eyes widen.  
"…am I…am…I…a…Va-…vampire?" his lips were shaking as he said the words.

Kai nodded slowly.

Tala touched the bite marks again at his neck,  
"But…but Vampire bites don't turn you into a Vampire Kai…you said only…only if a Vampire drinks from you and in turn lets you drink of their blood then…then you can…" he looked at Kai's face and he knew it was true, he'd been turned.

Kai looked solemn and…guilty.  
"But how did you…" his eyes drifted over Kai and on instinct he hadn't had before, he sensed Kai's open wound at his wrist and he narrowed his eyes, grabbing Kai's wrist and looking at the long…but healing cut.

Tala knew he couldn't have been out too long…Kai said after siring a Vampire can wake within a day, hungry but at full strength and capacity.

"You…" the tone of voice was complete shock as he looked at Kai, "…you…you're a…all this time…you've been…" he backed away from Kai and moved across the bed, climbing off on the other side and staring at the closed curtains, he couldn't go near the sun…it would hurt him.

Tala looked at the floor as he leaned against the wall and slid down to sit near the corner of the room, things started making sense. Kai trained at night, went out at night…didn't eat very often if at all. Kai was so strong…he was so cold and pale and…  
'How didn't I see it…?'

He shook his head,  
"I trusted you…I trusted you so blindly that I didn't even consider that you could be…"  
"Tala, I…"  
"You took me down there…when you knew that they wouldn't be able to smell you or know you were there unless they saw you." He looked up angrily, "…you took me down there as a distraction?!"

Kai stood up,  
"I did no such thing!" he yelled back since Tala was yelling.  
Tala stood up quickly and steadily,  
"Then why take a human down there?! Why take me down into a VAMPIRE NEST when you are a fucking Vampire!" he was scared and furious.  
"Because I was stupid! I didn't want to upset you any more! You kept saying how much this meant to you!"  
"So you let me go down there! Leave me on my own! You could have stopped me for god's sakes!"

Kai saw the anger in Tala's eyes and how his eyes were turning a darker blue from their pale color, Tala didn't know yet how to control the change. Kai needed to calm him down,  
"You didn't go into the nest…" he said calmly, "I sent you in the wrong direction…"  
Tala eyes paled again and after standing still for a moment, he walked forward, leaning and then sitting on the bed,  
"…then why did they find me…?" his voice cracked.  
"Because they must have been on their way out and they…"  
"They could smell me…" he answered for Kai.  
"Most likely." He sighed and walked around to Tala, "…also, it's been years since I've been in there. It's different now. Bigger." Kai sat down next to him.

"Kai…" Tala looked at him.  
"Hn?" he kept looking in the direction of the curtains.  
"If you're a Vampire…then why are you against them?"

It was a simple question with no simple answer.  
"It's complicated."  
Tala stared at his side profile,  
"Tell me…why you fight against them? I am one now…by what you've taught me, the blood lust is already inside me now…the moment I get the scent of human blood, I'll want it. So I have a choice to make…how did you make yours…?" he was speaking low and sounding quite dangerous.

That was the demon part of Tala talking, mingling with the original personality and mind, slowly but surely removing every bit of humanity from the beautiful red head's mind…his soul.

Kai looked at him and saw the darkness turning in Tala's eyes.  
He allowed his own darker side through and he watched Tala acknowledge the blood red color his eyes turned to, he knew Tala could sense his power and how deep seated it ran.

Kai was not new at this.  
"I've been dead for a long time…but where I came from before this, was something I always loathed. Vampires were something I always loathed. I've killed humans…" he saw Tala's eyes pale slightly, his innocence still inside there somewhere, "…I've fed on their flesh. I've made them suffer…done things you don't want to know about…" Kai watched him look away.

He allowed sincerity into his voice,  
"But it wasn't long before I craved the final death of Vampires more than I craved blood of a human. I'd had no desire to empower myself above man. Unfortunately I was born into that…but it was never what I wanted." He spoke quietly.  
Tala looked back at him and saw Kai's eyes in their fine red wine color again,  
"I was turned into a Vampire when I was 18…the age of a man in my time. My father turned me, like he'd turned my mother…like his father had turned him and so on and so forth…" Kai was speaking in a monotone voice, as if telling someone else's story.

Tala was stunned.

"My family dates back…to just over a thousand years. Vampire after Vampire…descended from a purer race, a first race but still we're not the purest kind of Vampire. There are no full bloods anymore…from what I was taught as a child."  
"How…h-how old are you?" Tala stared at him.

Kai smiled a bit.  
"Exactly?"  
Tala nodded numbly.  
"372 years old."  
There was silence and Kai looked at Tala who had his mouth open in shock,  
"Then you were alive in the 1600's? But…your…18 in…" he looked over Kai, "…body?"  
"Forever…"  
"I'm older than you…but not older than you." Tala blinked and Kai smirked again,  
"You don't look older than me…in body…" Kai mumbled.  
"No, I don't…" he agreed, "…when I first saw you I thought you were like…29 or something…" again he thought he would blush but it never came.

Kai laughed quietly,  
"Living for a long time ages you mentally…while I can't change in physical age, my youth of an 18 year old body died a long time ago." He said quietly.  
Tala nodded, not even remotely knowing how that must feel but foreseeing that he was immortal now…he wondered how long he'd be undead.  
"I'm a Vampire…" he said randomly.  
"Yes…and I'm sorry." Kai apologized and Tala saw him reach out but ultimately he didn't touch Tala's hand where it sat on his own knee.

Tala didn't say anything about it but he wondered about something else,  
"You said…you were checking my breathing when I woke up. But…you knew I wouldn't be breathing…" he turned to look at Kai.  
Kai's eyed widened and he looked away,  
"I…uh…" he looked at the floor, "…it was just…"

Tala smiled slightly,  
"You were telling me why you kill Vampire's?" he changed the subject for Kai.

Having woken up with Kai's mouth practically against his had been shocking for him but it didn't bother him, or at least he didn't think it bothered him. Especially as he thought about it right then and felt a strange interest in pursuing that line of questioning, but Kai was uncomfortable and Tala still wanted to hear the rest of his story.

"Right…I was saying…" he cleared his throat, "…my family's entire lineage was Vampire based. But it was cleverly done, Vampires can't conceive. So from the first generation where a son was born and father was turned for whatever reason afterward, in every generation that followed, the son was not turned until he'd conceived a human male child from a woman of his choosing…"  
"So there was always new blood in the family and ultimately they all became Vampires eventually…" Tala understood.

Kai nodded,  
"Yes…"  
"So you…"  
"No…" Kai ended the line of questioning before Tala could ask.  
"I'm the last in the line…I ended it. I went against my family when I lied and told them I'd impregnated a woman, told them she was foreign and in another country, not Russian like they'd always insisted. They were angry that I'd broken the line but they said it would do if it were a boy and that I was to fetch her and bring her to our home where the usual would happen. She'd eventually have the baby and then I'd sire her…" he trailed off.

Tala didn't push, Kai was looking a little angry so he waited,  
"I wanted to be sired." He admitted.  
Tala frowned,  
"Why?"  
"You can't take on evil without having a little demon in you."

They were both quiet for a moment, Tala thinking about what he'd said and it made sense.  
"So my father sired me…like I expected would happen. And then I killed him…" Kai's eyes were looking a little bloody again, "…he nearly killed me, he was stronger, older and more experienced. But he hadn't expected me to cut his head off…" he said very quietly, his lips curving up at the ends in a cruel smile.

Tala shivered at the look.  
"If you went against them…why did you kill peop-…"  
"Because I didn't expect the lust to be so strong…I was fine until I left the castle. I was fine until I walked out amongst the humans that night. There was a rush…it's so powerful. You can smell all of them so powerfully, hear their hearts beat and the blood move through their veins. It's like you can already taste it…something that seems so disgusting before you find every inch of your body craving it…" he sighed and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.  
"…it's dangerous…the curse. The demon that takes over, its like being inebriated at first, its like your mind is drunk on evil." He finished.

Tala waited a moment and then asked,  
"At first?"  
Kai nodded,  
"Eventually it just becomes a part of you…like if someone you love dies and you eventually live with pain and not even notice it. The evil seeps so deep inside it's just you…with a bad side. Do you know what I mean?"  
Tala nodded,  
"I think so…like, they say everyone has both good and evil and their choices decide who they are." He said skeptically.  
"It's like that, yes, but harder." Kai admitted, "…it's always at the surface. Always. Even when I was…around…you."

Tala said nothing.

Kai looked away,  
"When I was able to smell your blood, when you were attacked and your arms were cut and it was exposed to me…I started to crave it from that moment. But I've been fighting it so long I got past it…"  
"So…what do you…drink?"  
Kai laughed bitterly,  
"Pig's blood."  
"Where do you…?"  
"Butcheries. For the right price, they're willing to sell without asking questions. Been doing it for years but in the beginning before I'd worked out how to get it easier, I used to have to…steal, live stock." He shook his head.

Tala raised his eyebrows.  
Kai looked at him,  
"Baby piggies." He said randomly and he actually looked sad but amused.  
Tala laughed a bit,  
"Poor baby piggies."

Kai nodded,  
"Yeah…" he sighed, "…it was after I was able to abstain from the human blood and had stopped being a murderer just because I was driven by this thing that invaded my body when I was sired…that I started going against my kind. It wasn't direct at first. I'd just kill them off when I could if I came across them. But after a few decades passed and I hadn't been home, I finally returned…" he blinked, "…and everyone was gone."  
"From the…castle?" he reminded himself it was hundreds of years ago when castles were living places.  
"Yeah. A few years later I found out that my grandfather was still alive, I don't know about my mother…but I don't honestly care."  
"I don't know if I'll be as strong as you are…I don't know if I'll be able to control what's going to come…" Tala said suddenly.  
"If you let me, I'll be here for you."  
"I need you here." Tala aid quietly.  
"Then I'll be here."

Tala took a silent non-breath,  
"You said you knew who Lee was…and that those Vampires there might know you. I assume there's more to that story?" he asked curiously.  
Kai smirked,  
"Oh…okay. Let me clear everything up." He understood Tala's need for answers now that he knew the truth, "I used to be a part of that nest. I joined it because I heard that my grandfather was getting nests together everywhere he could. Big clans of Vampires, it was always about power for him. It was around the time I decided I wanted to kill him, kill off the blood line of the Hiwatari's completely…"

Tala made a mental note of Kai's last name.

"So I joined the nest and lived with them for about 6 years, I watched it grow and I saw how powerful it was becoming. I learned of how all of them around the world were becoming. I couldn't wait around in hopes that he'd show up…so I killed the clan leader. Boris…evil man, even before he was a Vampire. He was the kind of sick bastard who was already remorseless…before he was given a demon to help him along." He shook his head.

Tala noticed the room get dimmer and heard wind from beyond the window, the weather was changing and Tala glanced at the bedside clock, it was after 12 pm.  
"They turned on you?"

Kai laughed bitterly,  
"No…I wish. They turned to me…they're weak…Vampire's of the more recent ages. Back when I was first around, they hunted alone, clan's were family size, four or maybe six at a time. They were independent but also more savage and bold. They've been watered down and died out…killing each other…"  
"Like man kind."  
"Yeah…except their numbers are nowhere near billions, so their extinction is more frightening to them." Kai added.  
"It's amazing how you speak of yourself so separately…"  
"I don't consider myself alike them…and you shouldn't either. Vampire by definition but not by action. You don't have to kill or maim, you don't have to be an animal. "

Tala laughed a bit,  
"Use my super powers for good."  
Kai laughed as well and Tala liked the sound.  
"What did you do when they turned to you?"  
"I turned on them…the ultimate betrayal. The Vampires who thought I was their friend and ally, I saw the hate in their eyes when I told them I was not a part of them."  
"Did you kill them?" he asked quietly, watching Kai's face.  
"Not then…but last night I killed one of them. I told you before, loyalty is scarce amongst Vampires."

Tala frowned,  
"So you really have no reason to go after this nest?" he remembered Kai saying so.  
"No, I lied to you. I was hiding my being a Vampire so I couldn't tell you…" he looked at Tala.  
"What?"  
"My grandfather has taken over the nest beneath Moscow. Returned home…as he would probably say."  
"You want to kill him…"  
"I do."

Tala nodded.  
"You're a good man Kai." He mumbled.  
"I'm not a man and nor are you anymore." He mumbled back.  
"I think you are…" Tala said very quietly.  
Kai said nothing.

"The vampire who made them attack me…after I killed Lee. I thought he might be the leader but now you say it's your grandfather, he's obviously too young. Unless your grandfather looks like he's in his twenties…" Tala smiled.  
Kai shook his head,  
"My grandfather is an old Vampire. The kind whose nails have blackened and teeth as well from having taken more from man than just blood."  
"What does that mean?" Tala's voice revealed his worry behind the question.  
Kai stood up, deciding they'd spoken enough about all this,  
"It means…he's the type who will eat the flesh and lick the entrails clean to have every bit of a human's life." He said quietly.

Tala was horrified and Kai noticed, he turned to Tala and crouched down in front of him where he sat, making Kai look up at him,  
"But I will kill him…" Kai nodded at Tala.

Tala reached out for Kai's shoulders and slipped off the bed to kneel between Kai's legs and he hugged him, his arms around Kai's neck tightly, he just wanted to stay that way for a while.  
Kai's gaze softened and he hesitantly held Tala back, this was going to be hard for him.

They would have to leave the apartment now and go back to the dacha, Tala would smell any human and probably have that all consuming craving. The farther away from people the better…  
"We have to go…" he said against Tala's hair when the other made no show of letting go.  
"Go where?" Tala asked quietly and Kai closed his eyes at the words spoken against his neck.  
"To the Dacha…you cannot be around humans. The city is too much of a danger area for you right now…" he told the red head.

Tala finally eased back and leaned against the bed,  
"Won't they know my scent now…?"  
"You have no scent."  
"Because I'm dead…"  
"Because the blood that they tasted no longer flows in your veins…" Kai didn't know why but he reached out and touched Tala's cheek with his knuckles, instinctively seeing that Tala needed comfort.

True enough Tala covered Kai's hand with his own and closed his eyes, remembering the Vampire in human form, grinning at him like he was a piece of meat.  
"He said I had pure blood…" Tala squeezed Kai's hand in his own as they lowered to the ground and he looked at Kai.  
"The Vampire who ordered them to feed from you?" Kai asked.

Tala nodded.  
Kai looked away,  
"You did…it was probably something rare for underlings to taste."  
"Underlings?" Tala frowned.

"The Vampire I found there…still…" he gestured to Tala, "…when I got there. He was new…maybe a week old. They're obviously recruiting…" he sighed, "…the one who ordered thems probably their sire, he must be a reasonably powerful Vampire or he wouldn't be told to sire others. Was he with Lee?" Kai looked curious now as he crouched there, fully away of Tala's hand still holding his own.  
"No. Lee came first …and he was with another who he called…Gary I think…" Tala thought hard about it.  
"That makes sense, Lee having another 'alpha male' around didn't seem likely." Kai shook his head.  
"After I managed to stake Lee…" he saw Kai smirk when he said that and he smiled feeling a little prideful, "…I was gonna run, I'd managed to make a way to the door but that's when he showed up, with two smaller guys with him."

"Hunting groups…" Kai narrowed his eyes, "…they're bold enough to be hunting…damn it." he was clenching his jaw, "Lee and Gary were always hunters, to bring back easy meals. But they're sending out more…what did he look like, this other lead Vampire?" he looked at Tala, seeing how Tala was painfully remembering.  
"Like a devil, he was grinning at me like hell itself. He had these empty…grey I think his eyes were grey, and empty. Like he had no pupils. His hair was like a...silver lilac. He was taller than me…" he looked at Kai and saw the blood color in Kai's eyes.

Kai suddenly leaned in and Tala gasped when Kai pressed their foreheads together and their noses touched,  
"Thank a god…any god you believe in that Brian didn't touch you. If he had known you were with me there…if had known you were more than just a human…" Kai was saying in harsh words through his teeth, "…your innocence…he wouldn't have just taken the pure blood from your body. Your virginity…he would have violated y…" he didn't finish.

He just brought his hands up and held Tala's face, skimming his lips over Tala's nose, up to his forehead where he pressed a cold kiss and Tala's eyes closed but he was frowning, scared by Kai's words,  
"If you see Brian…you run. Don't attempt to fight him, he will not kill you if he knows…"  
"Kai…" Tala breathed, "…he knows."

He felt Kai pull back a bit and felt a quivering breath leave Kai's mouth,  
"How does he know?"  
Tala tilted his head back to look up at Kai, blood red met pale blue and Tala's worried expression pained Kai,  
"He heard me scream for you…he was standing right there…"  
Kai breathed a bit faster,  
"And he didn't say anything...threaten or do anything."  
Tala numbly shook his head,  
"No…he just…left…"

Kai truly seemed stressed by this and Tala had to know,  
"Is he so dangerous that you fear him?" he was panicking a bit.  
"No…" Kai didn't sound offended, "…Brian is not about power, he's not about dominance. He's about torture, unadulterated pain, suffering…cruelty. He's never wanted to kill me… not even after I betrayed them all. He thrives on pain and blood, he would want to make you suffer…if he thought you meant anything to me." Kai was thinking, trying to figure out why Brian wouldn't have taken Tala as an advantage point.  
"Unless…my grandfather. Is his power over them so strong that they wont go against his orders…?" he sounded shocked.

Tala wanted to hang onto Kai's closeness, he was shaking,  
"How do you mean?"  
Kai looked down at him, their faces close and Kai licked his lips unconsciously at the proximity,  
"It means that if my grandfather says hunt…they will do nothing else until told otherwise. If Brian was on his way out to hunt and he left you, assuming he hasn't forgotten who I am…"  
"Is that likely…"  
"Not remotely…" Kai responded to Tala's doubtful question.

Kai let his eyes roam over Tala's face and the red head's eye's also dipped to look at Kai's mouth a bit distractedly,  
"…then Brian is not a concern right now." He said it with some relief, "…but my grandfather…" he trailed off.  
Tala stayed quiet as he looked up at Kai…hopeful of something…something Kai seemed unsure about.

Kai was fighting with himself…Tala's eyes were asking him, openly asking him to…  
He watched as those beautiful pale eyes darkened and Tala's inhaled deeply and almost automatically his lips parted, his canine teeth extending and his eyes glazing over to a primal deep blue, facial features contorting.

There was a knock on the door.

"Tala, stay with me…" Kai pulled back and grabbed Tala's shoulders.  
"Kai…" Tala breathed and then a low growl came from him and his head turned in the general direction of the door when the knock sounded again through the apartment.  
"Tala, I'm sorry…" he breathed and raising his fist, he hit Tala in the temple and knocked him out.

Kai sighed heavily and became angry when the knock sounded again.  
He let Tala's head loll back against the bed, he was limp where he sat and his face changed back slowly to normal, his teeth retracting.

Kai walked to the door and left the bedroom, closing the door behind him softly.  
The knocking persisted and he walked quickly to the front door, opening it in a swing and giving the short round man a very stern look,  
"Can I help you?" Kai asked in a monotone.  
The man had stepped back in slight alarm when Kai opened the door but he nodded and smiled annoyingly pleasant, he removed his hat,  
"I'm here to see Tala. I came yesterday but the lady downstairs said he hasn't been here much. I asked her to call me when he got in, apparently a cleaner said they heard someone in his apartment so I came over."

Kai stared at him,  
"Who are you?"  
"Oh…" he extended a hand, "…Stanley Dickenson. I worked with Tala's parents. Something unfortunate happened recently and he came to see me. He was very upset and left without taking anything from his parents office. I came to see him, to check up…it cannot be easy with what he's going through." The man spoke a lot and Kai was getting annoyed.  
"He's fine." He answered simply.  
"Why are all the curtains closed?" Dickenson barely managed to peek over Kai's shoulder and see inside.  
"We were asleep." Kai said, irritated but he regretted it because he realized what it sounded like.

This was a bachelor apartment after all.

And sure enough, some redness rose in Dickenson's face,  
"Ah, I see." He stared at Kai with a whole new expression, "…well, then I'm sure he's fine. Could you ask him to give me a call when he has a chance? Just a courtesy if he doesn't mind…" he laughed embarrassedly.

Kai hadn't meant for it to sound like that but he wasn't going to extend conversation with this man by correcting his assumption plus Dickenson was obviously old school and wasn't going to question something out of his comfort zone.  
Kai nodded and let his stare settle in the 'leave now' expression.

He could see the mistrust radiating off Dickenson as he wobbled his way off down the hall, Kai had to leave there now, before someone got killed…by Tala.


	6. Chapter 6

When Tala came to he was lying on a bed but it wasn't in his apartment anymore, he blinked a few times and sat up with a grimace at the pain in his head, it was just dizziness and it passed after a moment.  
He looked around the space, recognizing his bedroom at the Dacha…now that his senses were heightened though he could smell everything much clearer.

Kai's scent, he hadn't even realized he'd memorized it so well, he smelled it beyond the room, the door…it was as heady as ever. He wondered for a moment how they'd ended up here, he tried to think back to before when he and Kai had been talking as he rubbed his face with his hands tiredly.  
He sighed a moment later when he remembered smelling blood, the memory was nothing compared to what he'd felt at the time. Kai had had to knock him out…

He wasn't going to cry…or at least…he didn't feel like he wanted to.

The upset he felt didn't seem like it was able to manifest into sincere emotional pain that would cause him to cry.  
"I have a demon in me…or it's…part of me." He couldn't imagine what that would eventually do to his psyche, Kai said it was hard, he'd been alive for over 300 years and only managed to find the strength to over come it, never get rid of it.

He had no choice but to rely on Kai, like earlier when Kai had knocked him out. Tala was glad because he would regret killing a person…

He got off the bed and walked to the door, he noticed he didn't really feel much in the way of cold, the air was cold but he wasn't. As he left the room he placed his hand over his heart, feeling nothing there was scary.  
He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around but his nose told him exactly where Kai was and he walked into the living room a moment later and stood in the doorway.

Kai was in the same single chair he preferred, the electric heated fireplace was on as if out of habit and Kai had his head leaned back and his eyes closed. Tala remembered walking in on Kai this way several months ago and the distance he felt from the memory was irritating, he was dead now, when just maybe a day ago –he'd lost track of time being unconscious so much- he'd been a living breathing mortal.  
'Living forever…sounds so hard…' he thought as he approached in Kai's direction but stopped short and sat down on the sofa across from Kai's, the coffee table separating them, he watched Kai's still form. His chest didn't rise and fall, there was no movement behind his eyelids…so dead.

Tala started breathing suddenly when he realized he hadn't been, even though he knew he didn't have to he still wanted to…  
He watched as Kai's eyes opened slowly and settled on him,  
"How long have I been out?" he asked quietly.  
Kai sat forward and ran a hand through his hair,  
"About five hours…although you should've woken up sooner. I guess sleeping habits die hard." He was saying but he sounded distant.  
"How did we get here from the city?"  
"That's not important." Kai brushed it aside.

Tala didn't bother to ask further, when Kai was not interested in talking then he didn't.  
"Who was at the door?" he had an after thought.  
"Fat short guy…wants you to call him and tell him you're alright." Kai answered again in his dismissive way.

Tala just looked away and stood back up, still wearing his torn dirtied clothes, he walked over to the desk behind the main couch and moved some papers to find his phone.  
Sure enough, there were missed calls waiting to be seen to. He switched his phone off and dropped it on the desk,  
"He wouldn't help me…" Tala mumbled as he stared at his phone on the table.  
Kai said nothing, he just sat there leant forward, elbows on his knees and looking at the ground.

"I'm going to take a shower…" Tala said and left the room.

* * *

The shower relaxed Tala a bit more, he'd been able to enjoy the sensation of the water and the heat the temperature created but his body merely adapted until he couldn't even feel it after a while. He found it amusing.

He'd stared at the mirror in the bathroom for a while after he'd finished, a grim feeling in his stomach at the lack of reflection.  
He had the last glimpse of himself in a mirror set in his mind, he'd forever have to remember he looked that way because he'd never see himself again.  
Although he'd mostly looked lithe and pale, so he assumed he didn't look much different right then, just a bit more pasty…

He walked back to the bedroom he'd woken up in, it didn't feel like his anymore and technically since he was dead it would be passed on to a relative.

But no one knew he was dead.  
'I'm dead…I'm actually dead…' he walked into the bedroom and stopped when he saw Kai standing at the window, the curtains drawn back, it was dark outside by that time.  
"I wont turn around…" Kai commented.

Tala glanced at himself in his towel and then walked over to the closet where he'd unpacked his clothes, in the passed months of their opposite training schedules, they'd agreed to share the room because Tala's parents room was not a comfort zone for him or Kai.

Although he suspected Kai had only said no to the room out of some respect for Tala's feelings.  
Tala was taking out a pair of jeans when he glanced at Kai, standing with his hands in his leather duster pockets and leaning against the wall but facing away from Tala.  
"Are you okay?" he asked as he pulled boxers out of the drawers and up under the towel.

Kai remained silent for a while as Tala finished putting his jeans on and discarding the towel onto the bed, he was buttoning the jeans when Kai turned around.  
"I think you should stay out of it." he said quietly and Tala looked up to see his wine red eyes twere so intense, they took a quick but thorough look over Tala's half naked form.  
Tala only heard his words,  
"Stay out of what? The fight against the nest?" he grabbed a shirt rather roughly from the drawer and walked over to Kai, pulling the shirt over his head. His hair style was still mostly in tact but hair still fell out around his face after he pulled the shirt over his head.

In the moonlight behind Kai from outside the window, it made both of them appear ever less color like in their skin and Kai thought Tala looked just that much more beautiful with his damp darkened blood red hair sticking to the sides of his face.  
"Yes."  
"Why the hell would I do that?" he shook his head very slightly and frowned at Kai.  
Kai could tell he was being mocking,  
"Because it's not a game…"  
"It never was a game…I'm dead for fuck's sake. When did you think I'd started taking this seriously?" it sounded weird saying it aloud that way.

"I've been dead longer than you have, fighting a lot longer, killing a lot longer…"  
"Blah blah blah, so now that I'm a Vampire too you're not humble anymore, now you wanna play who has the worst bite?" Tala stepped up into his face.

Kai narrowed his eyes but they remained untainted by the blood color, still a deep red wine that drew Tala in,  
"This is not a pissing contest, I was always worried about you but I couldn't say so before…"  
"Because you were lying to me…and expecting me to trust you, then you turned me into a Vampire after you took me down into a nest when you knew more than you let on!" he shouted and his lips curled in a sneer, it seemed to come so naturally to him.

"Exactly!" Kai shouted in his face and grabbed the front of his shirt, bringing Tala closer to him still, "I fucked up. I let you go there when all I wanted to do was stop you. I let this happen to you…" he said quietly after his initial shout and he watched Tala's surface anger dissipate in his eyes. "…and now its even more dangerous. Now it's worse…because Brian is sadistic and my grandfather is pure evil and you said Brian knows about you…you'll become what they use…" he trailed off as he unclenched his fists from Tala's shirt and let his hand rest there for a moment, sliding over to where Tala's heart beat should have been felt.

"I've already got you killed once…"  
"I'm sorry…it isn't your entire fault. I think…I think some part of me had a death wish…after my parents died…" he lowered his head, looking at Kai's neck and the scar running over his throat.  
He reached up and traced the scar with his finger only just barely before Kai's hand took his wrist gently and removed the hand,  
"My father nearly got me before I got him…" he mumbled.

Tala understood this was an explanation.  
He looked into Tala's face again and he saw what he'd seen earlier at Tala's apartment, Tala was close and seeking something…but Kai's uncertainty remained for the fact that he doubted Tala understood all of the more primal feelings he would experience with a sordid demon merged within his body and mind.  
It could turn the purest of people into vile murderers, deceivers and whores.

"Do you hunger?" Kai asked quietly watching Tala carefully, the way his eyes half lidded at the words.  
"Yes…" he said just as quietly.  
Kai watched Tala's eyes become darker as they looked to Kai's mouth, Tala's pink tongue slipped out to lick his pale cold lips at the thought...  
"You must have blood then…" Kai had been talking about drinking, "You will begin to feel weak if you do not have blood soon. Your strength will dwindle faster because you were drained almost completely when they fed from you."

He took Tala's shoulders and pushed him back slightly, jarring Tala from his lustful daze, his eyes returning to their pale color but narrowing at Kai never the less.  
The distrust would be hard to pass within the demon, it was also going to mould itself to Tala's mind. Vampires were creatures of self loyalty…

Kai knew he had to keep Tala on the right track but it would be hard…he'd had a hard time doing it for himself.  
He ran his hands down the long sleeves of Tala's black shirt, not wanting to fully force away the closeness of the other…if for his own selfish reasons.  
"Come…" he walked around Tala toward the door.

Tala followed him barefoot from the room, they both walked so quietly.

They entered the kitchen and Tala's eyes fell on a sealed plastic bag…filled with a red liquid. Dark, red and thick.  
Kai walked past the counter and lifted it up, it was a bit bigger than his hand and quite full with the blood i…Tala's nose picked up the scent of blood but it didn't arouse his savage need to drink like he remembered the human scent did, but it did make his mouth water in anticipation.

"Is that…pigs blood?" he asked as he walked to the counter and leaned on it, watching Kai.  
The blunette had taken two clean mugs off the dish rack and placed them on the counter,  
"Yes…it's from my last trip into the city. I have enough for two of us for two cups a day. It's more luxury to drink more than we need, but I find its necessary to keep yourself satisfied when you cannot drink from humans." He was saying as he used a kitchen scissor –apparently more acquainted with the kitchen than Tala had known- to cut a triangle of the plastic from the corner.

Once it was opened he filled each mug, the blood was enough for two almost full coffee mugs.  
When it was out of a sealed bag and the scent was permeating in the air, Tala felt the shift in his mouth as his fangs extended just slightly and his senses zeroed in on the blood that was in the mugs.  
"Calm down…" was Kai's quiet words and Tala looked at him and blinked, swallowing hard and trying to do what Kai said.

He needed to be strong enough to control himself.  
"I'll just warm it, it's been in a cooler bag filled with dry ice since I couldn't keep it in the fridge like I used to."  
Tala smiled,  
"That was yours…the yellow mug I found in the fridge when I first got here. Sorry, I threw it out…" he watched Kai place the mugs into the microwave and close the door, setting it to heat for a minute on high.

Tala sighed and pushed his untidily drying bangs behind his ears,  
"At the time it seemed so disgusting."  
"When you were not undead it was bound to…" was Kai's comment as he stared into the microwave, arms across his chest as he watched the mugs go around and around, the hum of the microwave filling the silence for a while.  
The beeping sounded and Tala pursed his lips, Kai opened the microwave and took out the mugs then turned to Tala and he raised an eyebrow,  
"If you never taste human blood, it will be better for you." He placed the mug down and slid it across to Tala.

The red head reached across the counter, his hands shaking, not in fear but in anticipation since his senses were tingling and his mouth was watering. He lifted the warm mug and brought it to his mouth, the smell wafting straight up into his nose.  
Kai saw his eyes darken as he pressed the mug to his lips and took a sip and then as expected he started to gulp from the mug, his adams apple bobbing slowly with every thick swallow.

Kai sipped his own slowly…not being new this at all, it was much like a cup of morning coffee to a human.  
When Tala was done he lowered the mug and looked to Kai with a glint in his dark eyes as he smiled, his teeth stained a bit red and the inside lining of his lips,  
"That was…"  
"Like drinking water when your exceptionally dehydrated?" Kai ventured with a dull expression as he sipped his own again.  
"More satisfying…" Tala swallowed again and licked the blood from the inside of his lips slowly.

Kai smirked slightly and slid his own mug across to Tala,  
"Finish this…"  
Tala looked from him to the mug and then he reached for it but Kai's hand held his wrist as his fingers slipped into the handle,  
"But drink it slowly…familiarize yourself with the fact that its not a hunt. The blood is yours to drink…" he said slowly, "…enjoy it."

Tala nodded,  
"Okay…" he breathed and Kai let his wrist go.  
This time Tala sipped it and took a pause to see Kai smile at him…Kai looked like a young boy when he smiled in that cute way, Tala smiled back.  
"You're not an animal." Kai reassured and Tala nodded, taking another slow sip and pausing.

"Tala, I really don't want you doing this. Its going to be hard enough for you now as it is…you can't go to university, like your parents always said they wanted. You can't have a social life, like I'm sure you had…"  
"And I can't let this have happened to me for nothing either." He gripped the mug in his hands. "I can go to night classes and a social life, well, I can work around it if I need to."

"You can't have a normal life easily anymore, it'll take work and secretiveness. You can't really have colleagues, friends or…lovers. You can't have children…" he gave Tala a serious look.  
"You've done it for over 300 years…why can't I?"  
"I came from a depraved family, even before I was of age I never lusted after woman in any particular way. I never cared for friends…I wasn't really giving up anything I hadn't been raised and prepared for." Kai said seriously.

"Well, I may have had a few friends but nothing I couldn't live without. I was never interested in university to begin with and I have forever to learn anything they might have taught me and then some. And…I've never been with anyone, so…what I don't know won't be missed." He looked at Kai specifically when he said that.  
Kai didn't comment so Tala went on,  
"Like a monk or a young man made to take his vows of celibacy and service to his God, they are only man and they can do it for all their lives. I think in this state being more than just mortal, I should be able to." He sounded sure enough.

Kai still didn't say anything, he just stared at Tala.  
The red head became uneasy and a little curious,  
"Besides…why couldn't I sleep with a human…mortal, whatever."  
"You can refer to them as human, your physical body is still flesh technically but your demon on the inside." He avoided the question easily and kept staring.  
"Answer me." Tala demanded, his half drank blood forgotten for a moment.

"You could…there is nothing stopping you." Kai answered honestly, "There isn't anyway they'd think you're a Vampire or a demon just by looking at you. They might notice that your skin is deathly cold since their flesh is warm. They might notice that your stamina makes you insatiable and decide your too much for their weaker forms. They might notice you growl like a literal animal when your in the heat of a sexual moment or even that your eyes physically change when your aroused…it may scare them away before or after you've had your way with them, but alas…they'd never think you an immortal creature they've long since deemed fictional." Kai said with a lilt in his voice and smirked, "…unless you lose control during sex when their human blood is pumping through their weak frail bodies at an accelerated rate and you kill them, then you might encounter a problem." He tilted his head kindly and blinked.

Tala just stared, feeling a little angry.  
"I get it…" he said softly and drank a larger gulp of the blood from the mug.  
"Being around humans is hard…at this point in time your not strong enough, but after a while you may be able to socialize comfortably around them. Relationships and sex with humans is a different story. In a moment that is already a loss of control mentally to any man…having human blood in that proximity is very likely to lead to disaster." He looked away from Tala.

"Have you encountered that…problem?" Tala watched his face.  
Kai remained calm and apathetic in expression,  
"I had sex with humans when I was in my killing stages…so it was redundant. But I've never had sex with a mortal since I stopped, I would never presume to be that strong." He said honestly with a small eyebrow quirk and sigh.  
"Did you ever…have sex with Vampires?"

This question made Kai's eyes darken and he looked at Tala,  
"We're getting off topic, the point I was making in the beginning was that you made a reckless decision before and I didn't stop you. I don't want you to be involved in this, I can kill him by myself and you won't be at risk."  
"And if you don't make it Kai? Then what…I'm on my own. I lack the strength you have, I lack the discipline…in the end I'd probably wander into a nest myself looking for a safe haven and food and I would rather be dead than suffer that fate." He surprised Kai when he pushed the unfinished blood away from himself,

"I must resist and be strong…but I know I'll need you to be like you. I'm just a demon of myself now, my humanity is fading…" he said worriedly, "…I can feel my conscience slipping from my mind. I don't feel anything when I think of my parent's death. When I picture their dead bodies I'm empty…soon I'll be a shell of myself and all I'll need is violence and satisfaction. Without you it'll happen the hard way…" Tala sighed heavily.  
"But the violent urge I can use…I can use it against them, against the things that did this to me and my parents. Even if I don't feel the need for revenge…I feel the need to kill." He narrowed his eyes, surprised at the rush of lust for death that washed over him, he closed his eyes.  
'Control…' he willed himself.  
"Good…control it." Kai said and Tala heard his voice closer.

He opened his eyes to find Kai had walked around to him and stood not close but beside him,  
"You must learn to control those urges, harness their power but only use it when you need it and at the right times."  
"Like when I rip the entrails from a filthy Vampires body…" he shook his head and growled lowly.  
Kai smirked,  
"That'll do."  
Tala leaned on the counter and laid his cheek on his arms, looking at Kai's midsection distantly,  
"So then you understand that I will not be left aside."  
"I'll regret it and never forgive myself if anything happens to you." He heard the words spoken quietly above him.  
"Do you care for me?" Tala asked darkly, his tone mocking since to his demon side the emotion seemed petty, but another part really wanted to know.  
Kai took a moment, probably aware of Tala's inner battle somehow before he answered,  
"I do."

Tala breathed a bit heavily,  
"Then help me…to be strong and fight these dark urges…" he turned his face into his arms and tried to cry, tried to feel proper grief at what had happened to him, but it never came.  
"In time it will come easier Tala…in time it will become a part of your psyche and even though your emotions won't be humane, they'll be at the surface of your conscience. You'll be able to cry and grieve minimally…eventually." He comforted Tala with his words.

Kai thought for a moment and looked down at Tala,  
"Once we've finished what your parents started and given you some sense of closure…we'll, leave here. We'll go somewhere together…away from a city and people and I'll help you become strong. Isolation is not the best solution in the long run because you become emptier but in the beginning its for the best."  
Tala stood up slowly and turned to look at Kai,  
"So…when do I get my closure?" the grey white skin around Tala's darkening eyes emphasized his new undead form.

Kai smirked,  
"Well, I taught you how to evade and kill a Vampire as a man. Now I will teach you how to maim and a kill a Vampire…as a Vampire."

A small shiver of anticipation went down Tala spine.

* * *

Two spin kicks Kai barely managed to duck passed in front of his face and then a right hook followed which snapped his head to the side, steadily trailed by a kick to his chest which propelled him backwards. He recovered quickly and looked up.

He deflected two punches, spun to duck a kick and punched Tala in his ribs hard enough to make Tala grunt and fall to his knee, weakened.  
"Hit harder…each blow must disorient." Kai instructed as he circled Tala in the back yard, like he was prey.

Tala was huffing angrily and his narrowed eyes watched Kai circle passed his line of vision, then move to his peripheral and then his senses followed Kai behind him, he stood up and ducked as Kai came at him from behind, elbowing Kai in his face at full force. True enough, Kai blinked and shook his head long enough –a split second- for Tala to jump up and spin kick him in his face.

Kai hit the ground dizzy but grinning as he leaned on one arm and on his knees wiping the blood from his nose.  
"Better…" he commented.  
Tala rushed him to kick him in his side but Kai kicked out and tripped him, Tala hit the ground on his back and Kai was up. Circling Tala again he looked at the blood on his fingers from his nose,  
"Vampires can take a lot of pain Tala, don't get sloppy."  
Tala got up slowly and turned to Kai,  
"You're the one bleeding, I don't think I'm being sloppy." He said cockily.

They were training in the moderate mid spring cool air, winter had passed fully in the month since they'd attacked the nest. Tala had improved masterfully, everything Kai had taught him as mortal man was enhanced. His senses were sharper and his hits were powerful now that he had Vampire strength, Kai was proud, Tala was almost as good as him.

Almost.

Kai moved quickly and Tala was hard pressed to catch the sudden shift before he was kicked in his chest and he went crashing backwards into the dirt ground.  
He hit the ground, skidded and spat up blood which spattered over his chin and mouth, as an after thought he grit his teeth and growled at the intense pain in his chest.  
"Don't get too cocky…" Kai informed him as he came to stand over him.  
Tala glared at him as his chest throbbed and was struck with sharp pain,  
"Did you enjoy that? I know you've been holding out on me…" he said wearily.

Kai extended a hand and Tala took it, getting to his feet and placing a hand on his pained chest, aware of some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.  
"But notice…" Kai said and Tala looked at him with angry dark blue eyes, "…you get back up and slowly…surely…the pain starts to leave you."  
It was true, the throbbing became less.  
"You heal faster…your bodies pain threshold is very high." Kai's eyes watched the blood run down to Tala's chin in a fine line.

He reached a hand up and used his thumb to wipe it away before it dripped off,  
"Blood loss means nothing…because your body functions almost the same without it. Your bones break and can heal…over and over…" he licked Tala's blood from his thumb almost without thinking about it and bit his lip afterwards. "Your immortal, almost nothing that can kill an average man or even flesh demon, can kill you. Remember your strength, it'll keep you getting up…over and over again."

He stared into Tala's face but Tala was distracted by Kai's actions a moment ago,  
"It's not my blood…" he thought distantly.  
Kai smirked,  
"That's not how it works."  
"Explain it to me."  
Kai stepped backwards and rolled his head around, loosening up his neck,  
"What you drink becomes your own sustenance, it becomes part of your body. It may not flow freely through your veins, but it's a part of you never the less…"  
"Does it taste like…me?"

Kai turned to him,  
"To me, yes…but then again, I don't know what you tasted like before." He admitted.  
"I almost wish you had…" Tala mumbled.  
If Kai heard he didn't comment.

He wiped the slowly drying blood from his chin off onto his grey long sleeve shirt and watched Kai, waiting to continue their fight.  
"Don't go easy on me."  
"If I fight you properly it will not end painlessly." He said matter of factly.  
"I can take it." He nodded, "…after all, Brian won't go easy on me, right?"

Kai's eyes darkened, Tala saw in the dark so clearly the blood red.

* * *

Tala spat up blood again as he tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees, he was shaking and he was definitely in pain that wasn't going to go away any time soon.  
"Get up…" Kai's cold voice sounded somewhere in the dark of the trees.

Tala tried again but gave a small groan of pain when his entire left side burned and ached and he fell back onto his stomach, breathing sand and dead leaves away from his mouth angrily.  
"You have to get up…" Kai was standing over him now, he could feel it.  
A hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him up, Tala kept back a sound of pain as he wobbled to his feet and was punched again in his stomach. Coughing out more blood before a hand clasped his throat and he was slammed into a tree, back first.

Tala grabbed at Kai's forearm, he knew he couldn't suffocate but it would hurt like hell if Kai started to collapse his trachea slowly by crushing.  
He opened his eyes and looked at Kai, there was nothing malicious in Kai's face, no intent to kill him but yet every time Kai hit him…it left him a little shaken.

Kai was powerful.

"Remember the Vampire that nearly killed you here against this same tree?" he squeezed harder and jerked his hand so Tala's head hit the tree, "…what would you do to him if he had you hear now, held down like this…?" Kai was daring him.  
Tala growled bringing up his pained arm that Kai had nearly broken earlier and punched Kai's forearm, Kai growled and his grip weakened briefly and Tala punched him in his face, two…three times in a row at full force, he felt his own power rush through his body in anger.

Kai stumbled back after each blow and Tala grabbed his shoulders, bringing Kai downwards and his knee upwards, it impacted Kai's jaw and he dropped backwards like a rock, hitting the ground, no grin this time as more blood came from his nose and a bruise formed at the side of his face.  
Now Tala wasn't the only one sporting black eyes and face cuts.

He grabbed Kai by his hair –show him how it feels- and he drew from his inhuman physical strength, reveling in its power being more than enough to dull his pain- he lifted the slightly larger male, dragging him to his feet and shoving him backwards roughly so he fell against the same tree.

Tala stepped forward to punch Kai but the older Vampire elbowed him in his jaw and grabbed the back of his neck, moving from the tree and slamming Tala's head into it. Tala bounced back, wobbled and landed on his ass. Dizzy.  
"Think of me as Brian…he wouldn't kill you if he could get you on your knees…" he said suggestively, "…he'd just violate you. Make you feel pain and humiliation, I assure, we as a species feel humiliation as humans do. Just like humans it angers or weakens us." He was saying as he licked the blood from his lip and watched Tala regain his senses.

His body was taut with muscle - very tense, Tala glanced at him and saw the definition of Kai's arms, chest and abs even through his black tank shirt. Kai tensed and emitted a low growl, looking rather pleased with the way things were going actually.

Tala was about to get up when Kai punched him, his head whipped back and he growled as well but was punched again and he had to steady himself on his side where he sat on the floor. Kai grabbed his hair yet again and flipped him over, so he was half kneeling and lying on the ground.

To Tala's horror and utter shock Kai shoved the side of his face into the ground and grabbed the waist of his jeans, lifting his lower half into the air and kneeling down with his own shins on the back of Tala's calves.  
Painfully pinning his legs to the ground in such a prone position.  
Tala's blood boiled but Kai's hand on his head was strangely disarming, before he had a chance his right wrist was grabbed and Kai bent it up painfully behind his back.  
Tala growled deeply, rage ran through him…and humiliation at being splayed that way.

Kai was behind him and he leaned forward minimally so Tala felt the barely there contact of Kai's crotch to his backside,  
"Brian would do this to you, strip you naked and probably screw you in front of all the other Vampires. He'd bind you…cut you, gag you…he's a sadist, a sick bastard who will enjoy hearing your grunts of humiliation as he takes you like a weak bitch…Tala…" Kai pressed his face harder into the ground but didn't lean closer or touch Tala in any other way,  
"What will you do to Brian…?" he asked practically.  
"I'll kill him…" Tala breathed out into the dirt.  
"Will you?" Kai taunted.  
"I'll fucking kill him!" Tala snarled and in second his face had contorted, the Vampire demon emerging suddenly from beneath the surface of his skin with a renewed anger, Tala used his left arm and pushed himself over.

Wasting no time as he flipped Kai off of him somewhat, their legs still awkwardly entangled, Tala was suddenly on top of Kai  
He punched Kai twice in the face hard and bared his teeth with a snarl, punching a third time harder. Kai's head whipped to the side as Tala was half kneeling over him but with enough balance to hit properly.  
Tala's nails had become sharper and longer and in his rage he stuck them into Kai's side, breaking the skin and forcing his fingers deeper.

Kai actually cried out and he reached up and grabbed Tala's throat, very painfully, Tala teeth grit and he hissed.  
"You said you'd kill him…" Kai reminded.  
Tala narrowed his demon eyes, face ugly and contorted in its demonic anger,  
"I'm not gone Kai…I know your not him…if you were, I would have used these…" he squeezed his nails into Kai's flesh, receiving a wince and sound of anger when Kai's hand tightened more around his throat, "…to rip…your…throat…out…" he was having trouble speaking.

Tala pulled his nails, bloody, from Kai's side roughly and Kai grinned at the pain before he released Tala's throat and breathed out where he lay beneath Tala.  
"Good…"  
"Does it make you feel better…to know that he won't screw me?" that was the still visible demon side of Tala speaking, looking the worst kind of attractive in his revealed state, fangs glinting in the moon light.  
Kai knew he shouldn't be…but the Vampire in him was attracted to his own kind enough for Tala to still be gorgeous to him.  
Kai didn't stop himself from answering as he looked over Tala, half kneeled and crouched over him, fit and lean, muscles tense and hand bloody with that sinful evil grin on his face.  
"Yes…the idea of him screwing you makes me very…uneasy…" his eyes darkened slowly as he regarded Tala.  
"Why…because you want to fuck me?" he pressed his hands into the ground either side of Kai's head and let his other leg kneel on Kai's side so he was straddling Kai but making no contact.  
Kai smiled,  
"It's not jealously…so much as it is protectiveness…" he answered in a partial lie.  
"Aw…daddy doesn't want me playing with the other little boys…" Tala's voice went a little lower, a sultry sex lusting side of the red head that Kai knew was not natural, "…he's afraid I might like it and start to beg for i-…" Tala grit his teeth when Kai's hand was at his throat again,  
"Get off me…" he said but pushed Tala off him so the other rolled to his side and Tala laid on the ground, leaning on his elbows as he watched Kai get up.  
"What's your problem?" He asked quietly as Kai got up, slowly but steadily.  
Kai looked at him,  
"Get up…it's almost sunrise." He instructed as he looked at the sky and then walked away without answering Tala's question.

* * *

In the early morning hours when the sun had risen, after a needed shower, Tala was staring into the mirror and seeing nothing again, it made him feel as if he didn't exist. He wondered how people would feel if they knew that a mirror could only reflect a living soul, he wondered if they'd be amazed…or terrified to know all of their fictional horrors lived beneath them slowly waiting and planning to devour them.

He couldn't see himself but he was aware of the marks and bruises on his face, Kai certainly had a way of getting him to be aggressive and more aware. He knew they other only meant well in training and since Tala was immortal, so much stronger than any man ten times over, he knew Tala could take it.

And Tala enjoyed it so much, he loved the feeling of the power in his body, the feeling of punching Kai and watching him be pushed backward off his feet at the power of the blow.  
But Kai still held back, Tala was not at his level yet but according to the other, for a month old Vampire, he was far better than some long living. They were cowards, those who lived in the shadows…new age Vampires were all easy pickings according to Kai.

Yes they possessed the power but none of them had fighting skills beyond whatever meager experience they might have had in their human years.  
Scrappers at best, they liked to throw unaimed punches and talk tough. It was the older ones who were dangerous…like Kai, like Voltaire…and like Brian.

Kai had told Tala that Brian was a few years older than him, they'd met just after Kai was turned and had lost his way and his mind to the blood lust.  
Brian had been his right hand, or he had been Brian's…he was uncertain because Kai hadn't specified.  
But he only said that Brian was not to be played with or confronted…he was a menace.

Kai and Brian had parted ways when Kai had decided he no longer wanted to live that way, that he wanted to be against the Vampires. He said Brian hadn't known, Kai had just disappeared and Brian had never looked for him.  
Although…the way Kai had said it sounded a lot like if Brian had wanted…he would have found the blunette.

They'd met up again back on common land where both of them were once born human, in Europe…Russia of a new age. This was around the time Kai was playing evil again to infiltrate the nest and again Brian had apparently not known his choices and had accepted him back quite happily.

But when Kai had killed Boris…this was when his truths were revealed.  
When he told Tala that Brian had never wished him dead…Tala could only wonder why. But Kai explained that Brian was unloyal to Boris…he had no leader but himself, so he felt no anger at Kai for murdering Boris. He'd been rather complacent about it…he was angered by Kai's betrayal of their overall kind.  
But again…he'd left Kai to go.

When Tala asked why, Kai's cryptic answer was that 'Brian is not afraid of me…'  
This was something that both scared and warranted Tala's anger…Brian was so dangerous…so vile and cocky that he'd leave Kai to run free because he believed he could kill him at any time?  
He asked Kai if he was afraid of Brian and Kai had said no, but he was afraid of what Brian would do to weaken him.

This was a week or so ago after Kai returned from fetching blood in the city that they'd had this conversation.  
Kai's weariness of Brian made Tala weary as well…rightfully so.

Kai had also said that there were things about Brian's nature that he needn't know but Tala persisted in questioning and all Kai revealed was that Brian was long surviving because he was not an animal.  
He was clever and dangerous. He didn't really care for feeding and only bothered to when he felt a need. He didn't care for lovers or friends.  
He only cared for violence and he would only seek peoples pain, everything else was a luxury.

Kai had apparently been the exception to Brian's friend rule but it was also obvious that Brian had no invested interest in Kai's friendship because he never looked for him after he left.  
It was all so strange…Kai almost spoke of Brian in a good fond way as much as he did in a hateful way.

Of all that though, the one thing most obvious was that Kai didn't want Brian to get his hands on Tala.

The fact that Brian was following orders from Voltaire like a common rat was surprising enough to Kai but he emphasized that for now if meant Tala was safe.  
Kai truly seemed to care…yet he pushed Tala away.

He dressed himself with all of these thoughts floating around in his head, pulling on black jeans and a tank shirt similar to Kai's. He'd gotten out of the human habit of dressing warm when the weather 'appeared' cold, he no longer felt such a thing. He left the room and went downstairs seeking Kai as he usually did.

He'd had some blood after the training and he'd noticed how with Kai's generous amounts and telling him to never lust after it because it was not a kill, it was given to him, he'd conditioned his mind to it.  
He hadn't been near humans yet but he felt a bit more in control as far as the pigs blood went, he hadn't gotten used to changing between his normal and revealed Vampire side yet, but he could hold it back when he drank blood.

He entered the dark living room, all the curtains closed against the early morning sun, not even looking anymore at the pictures of his dead family that lined the walls, not looking at the pictures of him in healthy living flesh.  
None of it mattered.

What mattered to him right then was sat in his usual place, single seat couch, slouched down and legs farther off the couch as he sat lower. He had an ashtray balanced on his thigh and a cigarette idly burning between his lips when Tala walked in, walking over and sitting on the arm rest of the couch adjacent to where Kai sat.  
"Why do you smoke? Its not as if your addicted…" he asked as he watched the smoke spiral into the air languidly, Kai's lips pursing on the cigarette as he took another drag and then his hand came up and he removed it from between his lips.

His eyes were not tired but lazy, unfocused, as he looked at Tala and breathed the smoke out through his nose,  
"…it's a habit that I picked up in the new age."  
"It has no effect though…like you said alcohol has no effect." he asked even though he knew.  
"Yes…"Kai gave his standard response.  
"Can I…?" he put his hand out and Kai looked at it, then reached his arm out for Tala to take the cigarette from between his fingers.  
"I'd never smoked when I was…alive." he mentioned as he held the thin paper wrapped cylinder and then put it between his lips.

Inhaling from it was simple and since Tala didn't need his lungs to breathe, he didn't so much as cough or even feel a hitch.  
He just tasted the bitterness and licked his lips after blowing out the smoke,  
"That's unsatisfying…"  
"Yes…its almost as if you wish you could feel its effects…and know it would eventually assist your natural death one day…" Kai mumbled as he stared at the cigarette in Tala's hand.  
"Your so morbid…"

There was a pause and Tala took another drag for no particular reason and then Kai spoke,  
"We should make plans to go to the nest soon…we've no reason to delay. Preparations are not as badly needed as they were when you were mortal. You'll have instinctual advantages now as well as physical fighting advantages, we don't need to procrastinate." he said quietly.  
"I agree." Tala licked his lips and watched Kai close his eyes briefly, if one didn't know he was a Vampire and didn't require rest, it'd be easily mistaken for exhaustion.

Tala recognized it as Kai's way of unwinding, when he allowed his guard down for a while.

Tala stood up and stepped closer, placing the almost finished cigarette in the ashtray on Kai's thigh and then lifting the weighted glass with his fingers, he placed it on the glass coffee table with a slight clink.  
Kai's eyes opened slowly as he watched Tala carefully, his eyes looking up into Tala's pale blue, searching for something. Why Kai always looked at him so wearily confused him, didn't Kai trust him?

Tala sat on the arm rest of Kai's couch and he looked down at Kai, who just watched his movements.  
"I'm ready to fight Kai…" Tala said quietly and Kai just stared at him, unblinking with calm red eyes.

Making a bolder move since Tala felt a strange feeling of need and lust slip into his mind and body, he shifted and balanced on the couch, moving a leg over Kai's. He straddled Kai like he had earlier that day when they trained early hours of the morning, letting his knees settle either side of Kai's waist, easily slim enough for the both of them to fit on the plush black couch. Tala settled himself atop Kai's lap as he slid his hands down the rounded cushioned backrest of the couch either side of Kai's head.

Kai only watched him, not moving or taking his eyes off of Tala's..

Tala forced himself to keep his eyes focused on Kai's as he leaned in, pressing his lips to Kai's quickly and pulling back just slightly, still looking at Kai, their faces were close.  
Kai didn't push him away like he had earlier and so many times before although Tala had never yet been this bold, his lips touching Kai's even briefly made the fine hair stand all over his body.

When Kai gave no resistance he kissed him again.

Lips almost touching Tala kissed him again and was pleased when Kai's lips pressed against his own slightly, returning the kiss and his red eyes closed for a moment at the contact.

Their mouths moved slowly against each other as they kissed. Tala breathed out shakily at the overwhelming need that pulsed through him and settled in his stomach, slithering tortuously lower.

He instinctively moved his hips,.

Neither needed to breathe and Tala was pleased by this, he didn't need to stop kissing Kai for even a moment.

These feelings were so intense and new yet he felt…like he knew.

Tala pulled out of the kiss, his mouth opened as he leaned his head back with a slow release of breath, his eyes opening slowly…a dark lusted blue.

Tala let his hands slide from Kai's hair over his shoulders and clothed chest until they were between them.

Tala pulled back from Kai to look down between them, pressing his forehead to Kai's while he grinned.  
He laughed lowly,  
"…aaahhh…I knew you wanted me…" he said and it was followed by a low growl in his chest.

Kai opened his eyes and looked up into Tala's, he saw the shift from Tala's true feelings to the more sordid type.  
Tala's eyes were dark and held a devious sinful glint when he saw Kai's uncertainty.

Kai growled and released Tala's waist, grabbing his wrist to stop the movement and he pulled Tala's hand off of him, holding it firmly to their side,  
"NO!" Tala snarled, "…let go…" it came out in a whine.  
"No…" Kai sounded strained, clearly forcing himself stop this.  
"But you want this…Kai…" it was a whine again.  
Kai opened his eyes, lust clear in his wine red eyes as he looked into Tala's…pale blue.  
"Tala…?" he said uncertainly.  
"What…what is it!?" Tala was frowning as he looked at Kai, his hand wiggling.  
"You…do you…" Kai didn't know, he didn't want to do something with Tala's uncontrolled side that Tala would regret in the aftermath.  
"Let go of my hand…" Tala made more of a struggle as he bared his teeth, "…let go. Let go Kai…" he kept saying as he struggled and tried to lean into kiss Kai.

When Kai didn't ease up his grip he saw Tala's eyes darken and narrow before he smirked and licked his lips.

Kai was momentarily stunned when Tala slipped off his lap, getting on his knees between Kai's legs.  
It was entirely obvious what Tala wanted to do but Kai stopped him, his hand grabbing Tala's hair,  
"No…control yourself." he instructed at Tala's angry leer when he grabbed his hair and pulled him up from where he'd been about to go.  
"I don't want to control myself…I want you to screw me…" Tala said harshly.  
"No…"  
"Why? Why wont you…you want me, so why wont you?" Tala asked with a frown, looking genuinely confused.  
"Because…it's not you. This is not what you desire…" Kai stared into his dark eyes.  
"That's not true…" Tala said calmer than before, "…I'll admit. I'm a bit…more…forward than I'd ever be in my own pathetic unconfident frame of mind. But I do want this…" his eyes looked over Kai's still relaxed expression.  
"You cant want this. You cant wanr emotionless sex…Tala, your desires were never this before…"  
"Before doesn't matter!" Tala shouted in Kai's face, "There is no going back to before, you told me that! I cant find love or have a relationship. But I will live forever…am I to live forever without intimacy, am I to live forever never being with someone, never being touched?!" he finished with a sneer.

Kai stared at him.  
"It is what I want…look at me…" Tala used his free hand to grab Kai's face, "I know you look at me and think I'm too far underneath it…too far underneath the demon to know what's happening. But its not true, I'm right there with it…right there with you…wanting the same thing." he looked at Kai sincerely.

Underneath the dark lust Kai could not see Tala's sincerity but he spoke so calmly, so surely.

It had been years since Kai had been with anyone, like everything else that came with the demon curse, Kai had forced himself to suppress his sexual desires. But Tala was a test for him, he was already attracted to the red head and having this offered to him was like punishment somehow.  
To fuck Tala until he screamed would be so simple for Kai, to take what he wanted and give Tala what he claimed to want.  
But he wouldn't.

He was stronger than that…  
So he let Tala go and sat back,  
"Take what you want…but I will not touch you." he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself from feeling anything Tala did to him, but he would not take anything from him.

Tala stared at him and his eyes darkened further.

Humiliation was all Tala recognized. He was being rejected.  
He pushed himself back from the couch and stood up slowly, Kai watched Tala move away so he put himself back into his pants and redone its fastening as he watched Tala.

Dark blue eyes narrowed angrily and Kai wasn't surprised when Tala punched him, jerking his head to the side forcefully and cutting the inside of his cheek against his teeth, reopening a wound from their earlier training.  
When Kai looked again at Tala he was walking out of the living room.

Tala walked up the stairs and into his parents bedroom where he had been sleeping since they'd returned to the Dacha. He felt the discomfort and anger of his humiliation but he could not cry like he might have done as a living being.

He sat down slowly on the floor, his back against the door and he stared ahead into the dark bedroom that still faintly smelled of his parents, it was fading, even to his higher sense of smell. Like Kai had said he no longer smelled like a he had when he was alive, he had a new scent, stronger and more dominant.

That Tala was dead, Tala Ivanov who went out so rarely. Tala Ivanov who had two people, maybe three, he may have considered friends but really, they'd never known anything about him, only what he chose to tell them. Tala Ivanov who had only ever been kissed twice and both times he'd been nervous and unsure.  
Tala Ivanov who was only confident around his parents but he'd lie and tell them he had friends to see, parties to go to and sometimes even lied about having met someone.

They never knew any better.

But the Vampires…they'd known how perfectly unwanted he'd been. How virginal. Twenty one and kissed twice, Tala had never seen any other person naked besides himself and a few actresses or actors partially on movies.

Even pornography, he'd been so shy to buy any even when he lived alone, to walk into a store and buy a magazine or to go online and use his credit card from his parents to purchase it.  
SCARED…he was always so fucking scared.

When he'd liked someone, he'd never had the confidence to approach them, to talk with them and the two times anyone showed interest both times he'd never agreed to see either of them again. Kissing…kissing had been too much for him.

He was so fit, always told by his parents how attractive he was and he was so confident when it came to his interest, learning from his parents and such, but where personal intimate things were concerned, Tala was out of his league.  
Yet, just now, just moments earlier what he'd been doing with Kai….warranted by years of pent up sexual aggression harbored from puberty years ago, Tala had been so confident. He'd known what to do, wanted to be touched and he'd acted so…wanton.

Kai was right, it wasn't entirely him, something more experienced and unsavory took over the moment he became aroused, the moment Kai was close enough to make those buried sexual needs surface, he lost control.  
Of course he should have known Kai could tell the difference but what Kai didn't understand was that it all came from Tala's true desires, it was just enhanced by something beyond Tala's experience.

But he did like Kai, he'd blushed very often when he was still able to and his body would heat when he'd think back on seeing Kai almost completely naked one time. He'd been so clueless that seeing an attractive naked man made him blush, even that announced his lack of sexual inexperience.

But he didn't feel so scared anymore, he didn't feel scared at all…when Kai had been beneath him and he had been touching Kai that way…he didn't regret it now after the lust had cleared even if his behavior scared him a bit when he thought about it.

But Kai doubted him…Kai who had done it all and had all he ever wanted, doubted Tala so much that he rejected him.

Rejection would have hurt before but now it just made him angry.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: This chapter has been censored**

* * *

A week had passed and the tension had not left them, Tala didn't speak to Kai even once.

He moved around the Dacha like a ghost and he knew Kai watched him whenever he walked in and out of a room.  
They hadn't trained and Kai hadn't said anything about going to the nest but Tala was thinking about it, just like Kai was.

Their tense silence came to a head on a Saturday night when Tala walked through the kitchen where Kai was checking the blood supply, he looked up as Tala passed.  
Tala was wearing a long black coat with a dark denim jeans and black formal shirt and shoes. He looked very dressed up, not a hair on his head was out of place, his blood red hair in the perfect devil horn form and his long bangs swayed as he walked by, smelling very good with whatever cologne he wore.

Kai's temper rose very quickly and his eyes darkened, he was at the door before Tala could get it open fully, he slammed it shut loudly,  
"Where are you going?" Kai asked tonelessly.  
"Out."  
"Behaving like a teenager."  
"Get out of my way." Tala said seriously and gripped the door handle again, but Kai didn't move his hand from against the door.

He stepped forward and Tala was forced to let go to step back from Kai who placed himself in front of the door.  
Tala rolled his eyes and turned to head back, there was a front door too, but Kai grabbed his arm and slammed Tala against the counter so his back hurt where it dug into his lower back.

Kai didn't hold him there but he stood close,  
"You can't go anywhere, they have your scent."  
"They know yours too, you go out all the time." Tala said calmly as the pain faded.

He was clear headed but Kai was not, now Tala understood what Kai saw when he was overcome with lust, the same way Tala saw Kai now overcome with anger…  
"You have no reason to go there and be at risk, I fetch blood."  
Tala glanced at the opened fridge,  
"We're almost out, why don't I fetch it?"  
"Because it's unnecessary." Kai stressed through grit teeth.

Tala remained calm,  
"You can't stop me if I want to go out." he informed the other plainly.  
"I can…" Kai said just as calmly but his eyes were dangerous, "…and it'll definitely hurt you, more than it'll hurt me." there was a tone in Kai's voice that Tala worried about a bit.  
Kai didn't look like he was kidding and Tala knew he could make good on his threat.  
But he wasn't backing down,  
"So do it then, knock me out and keep me here if it makes you feel better Kai. You may stop me tonight but I'll just keep trying until I get out…" he said just as easily but still completely clear headed.

Kai stepped closer,  
"Why?" his one eye narrowed, his control slipping.  
Tala hadn't known he could make Kai this angry and it wasn't that he wanted to see the anger, he just wasn't going to back down and be weak,  
"Because I could die for good when we hit that nest…and I didn't live when I was alive, so I need to get something out of my existence and I can't get that here-…"  
"Is this about sex…is this about what happened, about what you wanted…" his eyes got darker and for the first time Kai sneered at him and Tala swallowed very subtly in fear, Kai was pretty scary, "…are you going out to get screwed like you wanted?!" he closed Tala in against the counter, arm on either side as he looked over Tala's appearance.

Tala raised an eyebrow,  
"I'm not yours…" he leaned in and told Kai through clenched teeth, "…I will screw who I like." with a clear head and clarity in his pale blue eyes, Tala used his strength and shoved Kai backwards, he didn't stumble but he did move back and Tala gave him one last pointed look -that he was in control of himself - and he left, slamming the door behind himself.

Kai was seething and Tala could sense it, it was dark rage…something that he was rightfully afraid of but he walked through the backyard and got to his car, taking his keys from his pocket. He unlocked his car but glanced at the door out of distant paranoia before he got into his car and started it up quickly.

* * *

Kai took a full twenty minutes standing in the kitchen willing himself to calm down, his mind was hazing with demonic anger that was very hard to suppress. Jealousy…it was the feeling of pure jealousy that had riled him up so quickly.

Kai hadn't had much experience with such an emotion, he'd had lovers but it was all in passing or in violence and then there had been these past years without anyone, he'd felt liberated and detached all the years passed, which made him feel stronger.  
He'd been pleased with the outcome of telling Tala no, the fact Tala had walked away. He hadn't wanted to make him feel rejected and angry, he hadn't wanted Tala to ignore and not speak with him but he'd been glad nothing happened.

Almost 57 years with no sex and he'd said no, it was a powerful thing to say no to after so long, he'd proved to himself that he still valued his choices. He had wanted Tala…very badly. But he'd said no and he was sure he'd done the right thing, Tala didn't need to have something happen to him when he was not in his right mind.  
But right then when Tala had told him that…spoken those words, he'd seen no loss of control…no clouded judgment.

He was still in the kitchen after he'd calmed down and he leaned against the counter with a sigh, staring at the door absently. He didn't doubt he'd made the right decision…he wanted Tala sexually but he…had feelings for Tala as well, so he knew he'd not gone against his feelings.  
He wanted to have Tala in more than just a sexual way…even though he shouldn't be able to, even though vampires didn't get to have that.  
After so many years…Kai truly wanted to have it and Tala had said he wanted it too…surely if they made it out of this alive, he could have Tala that way.  
He could…love Tala.  
Be with him like a couple.  
He sighed again and looked away from the door, it was all very pretty to imagine…but circumstances really didn't make room for empty fantasies. Kai looked at the opened fridge and walked over to close it, he did need to get blood.  
He left the kitchen to fetch his coat, he'd go into the city and fetch blood…and try not to think of Tala….he wouldn't follow him…after all, Tala was not his.

And in all of the anger he'd forgotten the main reason why Tala shouldn't be out in the city, human blood.

* * *

Tala had felt like he was strong enough to go to the city, he'd been forcing himself to remember the smell of Dickenson's blood and keep his blood lust urge from rising. The smell memory he had was powerful.

And besides that, before he'd got that unique singled out blood trace he'd been in his room for over an hour with Kai in a conscious state, so why couldn't he just ignore the scent now?

But as he neared the city it was like millions of tiny little beacons started popping up in his head, like some common animal, he smelled the people and the crimson life force in their veins.  
Tala felt his mind haze when he saw the city light's ahead of him and he was about to put his foot on the accelerator and get there faster, needing to taste it…but at the last minute he hit the brakes and turned the car off to the road side.

Even when a car went by he'd smell blood, it was not unique to a person because it was too vague but like Kai had said, once you know the taste of someone's specific blood you can trace them for miles.  
Kai, he was partially the reason why Tala was doing this. He wanted independence, he didn't think he could get by being in the bluenettes company after the rejection he'd suffered, he needed to be strong enough to be alone.

He could still sense the blood as he stared out ahead of the car through the windscreen absently but slowly he forced his mind to clear and he pushed the desperate craving down.  
"I can have blood whenever I want…I do not need to feed off humans." He told himself in a quiet whisper in the car and then rested his head and hands on the steering.  
"I'm stronger than this…if Kai can do it…I can do it." he told himself firmly.

Leaning back from the steering Tala shifted gears and moved the car back onto the road but he drove slowly, allowing himself to get used to the stronger scent the closer he got to the city inners.

He was breathing a little heavier by the time he was on a high way, eyes glancing more accurately at everything around him than any man, aware of scents and noises that people were not and he fought the overwhelming need in his gut to drive down into the party area and find some weak easy kill…  
He turned off into a quieter part of Moscow late night city.  
"…I used to be that weak easy kill…" he said aloud and clenched his teeth as he was hit with a particularly enticing scent of blood. Tala sped up when he saw it was an orphanage, the vague traces of his goodness making him want to be sick for feeling such need to drink children's blood.  
"This is…disgusting…" he breathed in panic to himself and got back onto the highway, he was losing it, he needed to go somewhere where he would feel more balanced. Automatically his mind provided a place and Tala sped up.

* * *

Kai walked away from the butchery, turning into the nearest ally to avoid having to walk passed two many evening shoppers in the streets. Even if it meant taking the longer route to his bike carrying the plastic bag with eight individual bags of blood inside and he wondered how Tala was doing around the humans.

He dreaded that he wouldn't see Tala again, that the red head would decide the blood was too good –because he knew it was- and he'd turn over to the enemy side. He didn't know if he'd be able to kill Tala…not under the circumstances by which Tala became a Vampire, he'd never feel justified.  
He walked through another two back way alleys until he came to his bike parked in a third one, he placed the packet in the empty black back pack and zipped it up.

Kai was distracted, he knew that, Tala was on his mind. But he hadn't realized he was so distracted that he failed to notice a presence in the ally with him until it was too late to prepare himself.  
"Well well, I had figured eventually we'd run into one another."

Kai's skin crawled and he turned slowly, leaving the back pack on the bike seat, he looked at the other male,  
"Brian." Kai's voice was low.  
Brian grinned in his devilish way,  
"What? No hugs, no kisses…I'm hurt Kai. We used to party really hard together…"  
Kai said nothing and Brian chuckled darkly and placed his hands on his hips,  
"Then again…I heard you were fighting on the other side, on the mortal side."

Brian looked just as Kai remembered him, good looking but his inner ugliness reflected in the contours of his face. His eyebrows always sharp and drawn slightly, his lips always up turned into that nasty grin so that he'd formed smile lines that highlighted his angular face and slightly slanted eyes.  
"I look older…I know. Being the bad guy will do that you…but you on the other hand…" he slipped his hands into his black military style cargo's, his heavy steel toed boots scuffed against the damp ground as he approached Kai slowly, "…you look like you always have. Perfect." He said the word pointedly and followed it with a smirk.

Kai watched him approach but he stopped about two meters away which between them was nothing.  
Kai hated the all knowing smugness that Brian had in his expression,  
"You are looking older, it must be all of the vicious snarling and growling you usually do." He said offhandedly.  
Brian half snickered at the comment, they both seemed to be calm as they stood and spoke but both males were on high alert of the other.  
"Ah Kai…gone the days when that comment would have made me laugh with true mirth, now it's a laugh of disappointment." He never stopped grinning, leering.  
"You'd laugh at anything so that doesn't mean much." Again Kai brushed it off.

Brian hadn't mentioned Tala and that was all that mattered.  
"You got blood there." Brian stated, tilting his head to the side to see part of the bag behind Kai.  
"Yes." Kai answered evenly.  
"Swine blood." Brian's grin dropped for a second so he could look disgusted.  
"Yes." Kai said again.  
"Gone those days when you'd drink every drop from a human body and still hunger afterward." The light haired Vampire reminded.

Kai absently rolled his eyes,  
"The nostalgia is one sided Brian, I don't feel that weakness anymore."  
"Weakness?" he half growled, "…to drink what our kind rightfully craves is weakness to you?"  
"We were their kind…"  
"You know…I always wondered how I'd feel on the day when I finally had the chance to ask you why you betrayed me, all of us…and you know what…"  
"You don't care?" Kai smirked.

Brian smirked back,  
"You know me so well."  
"I do…" Kai responded, "…was there something you wanted?" he asked casually.  
Brian's eyes held a familiar glint of sadism at Kai's question,  
"You always did know that if I met you in an alley it wouldn't end in your death." He said quietly.  
"That's true…but I cant say the same for you."

Brian laughed quietly and gave Kai his toothiest grin,  
"If I meet you in the nest…should you show up there, again…" he revealed he knew Kai had been there, "…then things will be different."  
"I'd count on it." he tilted his head.  
Brian's grin faded and he turned to leave but Kai was curious,  
"…I have to admit. Of all the vile things I knew you did and no matter how much it disgusted me…" Brian had stopped walking, his back faced to Kai, "…I always respected your enforced lack of respect for authority. Brian always did what Brian wanted. Hell, you taught me a thing or two…and yet here you are, following his orders." He hadn't raised his voice he knew full well Brian could hear him.

The other turned around, muscles tense underneath his torso hugging grey shirt, the street light at the front of the alley silhouetted him quite well, Kai had always thought Brian to be the perfect example of a military murder weapon.  
"Things are changing Kai…and you're on the wrong side. Your grandfather is going to make a difference for us all, to follow him now will be worth it later on."  
"All the more incentive for me to kill him."

Brian snarled at him and was in his face in seconds, a hard fist in Kai's abdomen made the blunette laugh bitterly despite the pain, his hands gripping Brian's shoulders as the other stood in front of him, tense and angered.  
"Stay away from the nest." Brian said softly, his head tilted so he could say it into Kai's ear.  
Kai laughed a bit louder and grabbed Brian's wrist, shoving the fist out of his abs as he stood up straight,  
"Touchy subject…?" he enquired almost cutely, his eyes a dark blood color as he met Brian's dark grey, both men glaring equally,  
"If you come there…I will have to kill you…"

Kai laughed again, leaning back against his bike and Brian tilted his head watching Kai,  
"If I didn't know better I'd actually think you gave a…shit!" he kicked Brian in the abdomen suddenly and the other back stepped and held an arm across his abdomen as he looked at Kai.  
"You have a death wish…?"  
"I'm not scared of you…" Kai said what they both knew.  
"Oh right…how could I forget." Brian swung out and Kai side stepped, laughing still as Brian kicked out at him and he ducked back, spinning around to kick Brian but the other went down and tackled Kai.

Kai laughed even as he was hit square in his abdomen by Brian's shoulder and he was let go, he stumbled into the wall and grinned as he looked up at Brian's fist being pulled back.  
It slammed into the wall beside his head and then Brian slapped him, Kai turned his head back to Brian with a smirk,  
"Just like old times…"  
"I kick your ass." he snarled.  
"I don't kick yours." Kai said all too pleasantly.

Brian punched him in his face and Kai's head snapped to the side but he still smiled.

Kai punched him in his ribs and then elbowed him in the jaw in two quick snaps and Brian returned it in kind with another fist to Kai's ab's, making Kai groan and laugh, Brian spat out some blood and then pressed his hands either side of Kai's head on the dirty wall,  
"Your still in there somewhere…the old Kai."  
"Fuck you." Kai looked at him, smile gone, "…I am not an animal." he leaned his head back against the wall.

Brian growled and grabbed Kai by his coat front, pulling him off the wall before he turned him around and with a hand on the back of Kai's head he shoved Kai's face and body against the wall, placing his forearm against the back of Kai's neck.  
Kai didn't resist, he didn't have the energy to play Brian's games, he knew Brian wouldn't kill him.  
Brian noticed this because he let up on the pressure against Kai's neck, looking at the side of Kai's face, his eyes dull and bored,  
"Feel like a tough guy yet?" Kai smiled, glancing at Brian as best he could from the angle.

Brian leaned closer and Kai tensed when Brian sniffed him,  
"There's a smell on you…that's familiar." he said quietly against Kai's hair, "…and not that perfect smell….your musssssk…" he dragged the word out as he pressured Kai's neck again, "…no no no…it's not you."  
Kai kept himself calm, aware that Tala's scent would all over him since they stayed together but he didn't think Brian would notice, the smell was too faint, or was he wrong?  
"Hmmmm….hmmmheheheahahaha…hehehehehaahahahaha…" Brian started snickering, "…wait…I know that smell." he said huskily but Kai remained calm, he wasn't gonna let Brian get him riled up.

But Brian's words struck him with fright,  
"Virgin blood…sexy red head. In the wrong place at the right time…" he said quietly.  
Kai tensed and Brian only chuckled more,  
"Hmmm, Kai…he called your name. You should have seen his pretty face when he was bitten. If I'd had more free time I would have used him in other ways…watched him make that face while I take him raw-…"  
Kai's eyes darkened,  
"Touch him…and I will feed you your own dick." he pushed himself off the wall forcefully, spinning round and punching Brian hard enough to break the skin of his lip and send him stumbling backward.  
"If you come near him…"

Brian laughed,  
"Yeah…I heard you…" he wiped his lip as he grinned, "…but you know that wont stop me. If you come near the nest, I'll find your little red head and pop his cherry like a bottle of champagne. You remember how they used to scream don't you? How they used to beg and you used to just stand there and watch…" he leered at Kai, "…this will be no different Hiwatari. All you have to do is stay away from the nest and all problems are solved." He said lowly.

Kai watched him with narrowed eyes,  
"…to what end Brian. All of you crawling out of your filthy hole and taking this city apart?"  
Brian had the nerve to shrug and Kai growled at him, his teeth lengthening,  
"Never…I will kill that old man. I will drain all of his blood from his body and watch him shrivel until he turns to fucking dust."  
"I'll kill you first."  
"I'd love to see you try." Kai grinned quite pleasantly.  
Brian grinned back.  
"To the future then." He raised his hand and lazily saluted Kai.  
"The near future." Kai nodded.

With that Brian turned and disappeared into the dark.

Kai grimaced, he had a problem…Brian could track his scent if he really wanted and go after Tala, Kai would lead him right back to the red head. Then again…Brian had never really been the kinda guy who deviated from something unless it benefited him.

Kai didn't know how much of a benefit Brian saw Tala as being compared to sticking to meeting Kai in the nest in the days to come, but he wasn't taking any chances. He'd just have to wait it out for a few days.

* * *

Tala woke up the following day, he hadn't needed sleep but he had taken some comfort in falling asleep in his room, his other room at his parents home in Ostozhenka, Moscow's Golden Mile. T

he previous night after discovering he wasn't strong enough to handle the pressure of smelling human blood, he'd driven to his parents' private home in an area where everyone stayed in their houses or were out all day, minding their own business.

He'd left all windows and doors closed and just enjoyed the stuffy smell of automatic air freshener and collecting dust, his parents scents were still quite strong in the house. The property belonged to him, he'd known that the moment his parents died and that ridiculously complacent apathetic lawyer had come to read the will to him alone at his apartment.

Everything his parents owned…was now his. In living at least…of course, being the walking non zombie type of dead was beneficial, it made it easy for him to keep everything. Tala had known that at some point his parents had even owned farm land, but they'd sold it…the lawyer said.  
It was just as well, Tala would have sold it too.

Tala's family had always been wealthy, a long line of wealthy Russian lineage.

He sat up in his bed and looked at the closed heavy curtains of his white and blue bedroom, wondering if any of his relatives had ever been vampires.  
He smirked at the thought as he stared at the dull morning light kept out by his curtains, he couldn't smell any blood too badly, he actually felt relaxed. He stared a moment longer and then Kai's angry face came back to him in a flash and he lowered his eyes, feeling regretful for his behavior.

After all, everything Kai did was to look out for him.

With regret on his mind he got off the bed, he'd only taken his jacket and shoes off before he'd laid down, so getting dressed was a short chore. He walked down the stairs and into the large living room area, glancing around at his parents biggest front. This entire house was a mockery of who they where, they'd lived there as a pretence for their work and business friends and associates, but his parents real home was the Dacha.

All the pristine bright colors, neatness and paintings lining the papered walls were all just to hide themselves and it worked rather well. For a long time as a kid Tala had slipped into that pretence, going along with his parents false life, until he was old enough and they started sharing things with him…  
He'd never liked the dacha though although recently it felt more real than his apartment or even the home he'd grown up in.

With a sigh he looked around at everything unmoved in months, he'd been here after his parents died to clean out food and give the house a once over sweep to make sure that dust was all it might collect depending on how long he might take to return…almost six months had sincerely not been his estimation.

He had wanted to move into the house initially, when they told him it was fully paid up and he owned it solely, it made no sense to pay rent when he could live in the large house, the Dacha would be a secondary source of income and he'd even thought about going to University just to please his dead parents.

All of the things he'd been thinking so seriously about –to make his dead parents proud- had disappeared when he went to the Dacha, when he found their secrets and met their informant…their Vampire…Kai.

He smiled when he thought of Kai…he supposed he really liked Kai…in that way, he was attracted to him quite strongly, from even before he knew Kai was a Vampire.  
Now having had this sudden change of heart –that being it no longer beat- he found the attraction to have gone from slight romantic interest in Kai's presence…to full on sexual need.

It was not Tala…he knew that more than Kai did, yet Kai was the one who truly disliked it.  
Tala had wanted to welcome the change in confidence in himself but Kai sincerely liked Tala's…innocent side.  
He knew he should be grateful that someone still cared enough for who he was to want him around…no one really liked that Tala when he was alive…but Kai did.  
Kai who came from true evil and had seen true vile filth in humanity, he clung to Tala's innocence.

He leaned against the back of the sofa and looked around and up at the higher than usual ceiling, he knew he owed Kai an apology and he intended to give him one, as soon as he drove back outside and left the city again to get home.

With a sigh, Tala decided he'd grab some of his extra stuff, he still had clothes and such in this house and even though they'd need a wash, they were all still wearable.  
That and he'd clean himself up and feel a little less run down and more fresh.  
He wouldn't be able to leave the house until early evening anyway so…

* * *

Tala was a little unsettled as he drove back into the city at almost nine pm, he'd driven out to the Dacha to find that Kai was not there and hadn't been at all the previous night. He'd found the worry in him a nice change of pace from anger and tension, so he embraced it.

He was driving back into the city because that's were Kai had gone and Tala could smell him, track him…he'd tasted Kai's blood and inhaled that scent to closely to not be able to track him.  
That was not the problem.  
The city was.

It was the previous night all over again…Tala remembering smelling the children's pure blood and whereas it had made him thirsty the previous night, it made him swallow nervously in disgust at himself this night.  
Kai hadn't lied when he'd said it was bloody hard to put down the carving and urges but he had a mission and it was far more important than worrying about his petty blood troubles.

Kai was missing and Brian…the nest leader as well, were situated in the city, if they found Kai and ganged up on him?  
He tried not to picture fifty filthy wretched Vampires attacking Kai at once.

Like on the discovery channel, except instead of the lionesses attacking a helpless kudu, this was filthy Vampires attacking Kai. He didn't consider Kai to be a Vampire, like the blunette told him…they were not animals like the rest, they were the difference between uncouth Vampire filth that murdered and lived with vermin and then Vampires who co existed discreetly and civilly.  
Kai…he had to find Kai.

When he entered the city he stopped breathing, his skin tingled a bit for knowledge of what was around him but not smelling it directly would help. It didn't do much, his senses were apparently far beyond actually doing the breathing action to smell but he managed.  
He stayed off the smaller tighter stretches of road, deciding to stick to the fast moving and passing humans in their vehicles, safer that way. But after twenty minutes of trying to focus on Kai's scent when the blood was rife around him it was becoming so much harder.

He clutched the steering wheel and parked off on the side of the highway, leaving the car to idle and he shook his head.

He tried to think of something Kai had told him, it was about the reason human feeding Vampires walked around so easily among mortals, it was because they knew they could have it if they wanted and they always took it when they wanted.  
But Vampires abstaining had it hard because no matter how badly they wanted it…they could not have it.

Tala thought about people who abstained from drugs, alcohol, sex, self harm…there were numerous addictive sorts of things and thousands of people lived and got by no matter how deeply they craved something.  
And then there were thousands…even more that didn't manage.

He wanted to be the kind that managed, set aside from the Vampires who were weak…

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and the smell sent his craving wild for a moment before he picked up the familiar scent he'd been seeking and it was close.

Tala opened his eyes and looked out of his window and over the edge of the highway side, he could see the tops of some buildings from the roads and streets running below him. He looked ahead and with keen vision he saw a road sign for the turn off.

He checked for oncoming cars and eased himself back into the traffic and sped up until he got to the turn off, he braced himself for the influx of closer blood filled bodies but since this was a rather run down business area of sorts, dangerous too, it was void of too many life forms.  
He smiled in relief and continued following Kai's scent until he drove up to a cemetery entrance, the gate was not even fully in tact and the trees were large enough to frighten him…as a human. He was one of the things that went bump in the night now, so it didn't bother him.

He parked outside the cemetery and glanced around the empty badly laid tar streets when he got out of the car, only hoping no one decided to mosey on by and steal the fucking thing. He wondered about himself sometimes, impending doom, a possible lost or ultimately dead friend and he was worried about his car getting stolen.  
Arming the car alarm anyway, he ventured through the large gates into the cemetery with no hesitation in his step, he truly did appreciate the confidence that came with such strength and awareness. He could smell the corpses beneath him and was surprised that they didn't irk him that much.

He stepped across some recent burial grounds as he sniffed the air discreetly, glancing around hoping to see Kai somewhere, maybe being cool and sitting on a large tombstone like something out of a horror movie.  
He smirked to himself…  
'They couldn't get Kai that easily…' he thought positively and tried not think of the morbid irony of bringing an undead, dead Vampire's body to a cemetery.

He walked faster and finally after going about as far into the eerie place as possible, he came to a large mausoleum.  
"Cliché…" he mumbled to himself but stepped up to the door anyway and with minimal effort he pushed it inward, it scraped against dust and leaves collected inside. There were openings at the top of the dome shaped room letting in vague moonlight and at the centre was a large stone man sized box built into the floor. Tala knew that inside it were either bones or a still decaying body and since the stone was sealed and unmoved, he didn't think Kai or anyone else bothered to find out.

But Kai's scent was quite strong in there, either he'd been there recently or…  
He looked at the floor when a thought about individual Vampire's living in cemeteries or crypts…  
"Crypts…are built beneath chapels, cathedrals…mausoleums…" he was saying softly to himself and he turned and shut the door, fairly certain what he was looking for was beneath this small burial hole.

Tala then started looking closer at the floor but it was solid cement and stone and the shapely walls were as well, he  
blew some dust out of his nose in frustration and walked back to the door, not giving up on what he knew was beneath this mausoleum.  
He walked back outside and closed the door, glancing around like a paranoid freak before walking around the mausoleum, glancing at every detail of the design on it, looking for an entrance or door.  
He didn't know why…but he was stunned into momentary blankness when he came round to the back and saw, aligned by heavy overgrowth and trees, stone steps leading to what was clearly, though obstructed by bushes, a door.

'Obvious…' he thought absently as he stepped forward, pushing the bushes from his small path down the ten stairs he had to descend until his head was just below level with the ground.  
He glanced up and then at the door handle and he tried it finding it locked, Tala rolled his eyes,  
"Lock your obvious crypt door?" he snickered as he used force to break the lock and push the door in.

He took a deep breathe and felt relief wash over him when Kai's scent flooded his senses, just like his room had been but a hundred times more prominent.  
Tala stepped into the hollow arch entrance and look at the stairs leading down in a dully lit area, candle light most likely in an old crypt there would be no electricity.

He closed the door, more like jammed it shut a bit loudly before descending the narrow stairs, running his hands over the strangely clean walls until he got to the bottom and peeked into the moderately large space. He raised his eyebrows, Kai's digs were nice considering it was a Vampire crypt.

He walked in to the centre of the low ceiling crypt standing between two narrow pillars, giving some separation perspective to the three sided space, four thin mid height candle stands stood two aside at the pillars, giving the place its orange gloomy glow.  
Kai had a 'kitchen' area which consisted of a cute mini fridge hooked up to a generator and a kitchen cupboard counter piece – most likely part of a set at some time- on which stood a microwave and a kettle, also linked to the generator. Tala assumed inside the cupboards were glasses, mugs for blood?

He half smiled and looked to the other side, he was genuinely stunned to see a claw foot bathtub without any modern plumbing built in, set near the wall. It was some what shadowed due to the placement of the candles, strategic he supposed, provided some privacy. There was no toilet facilities and Tala remembered how Kai had looked at him when he asked that one embarrassing question.  
Do Vampire's ever need the loo?

Kai had stared at him for a minute before he'd blinked and smiled, as if amused, saying he'd never been asked that question, ever.

The answer was primarily no, it was not a natural need for their blood diet…but he'd admitted that eating food or drinking anything besides blood did result in such needs.  
Tala had been embarrassed but he hadn't been able to blush, since by the time he'd asked this question it was simply because it had been days and he'd not experienced the need to piss or otherwise.

Blinking himself from his distant thoughts he turned his gaze to the area of the crypt directly ahead of him, illuminated by two more candle stands either side of a high bed, complete with four posters and black sheets and pillows.  
There was a set of clothes drawers to the side as well.  
Tala raised an eyebrow,  
"…it's like a medieval shag pad, whatever happened to Vampire's sleeping in coffins…" he mumbled.  
"It's uncomfortable." Kai's voice followed by the loud jamming of the broken door made him spin around and look at the stairs behind him to see Kai's booted feet come into view, followed by the rest of him as he descended.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and his eyes were dotted with the orange glow of the candles as he regarded the red head.  
Tala raised his eyebrows and slipped his hands from his jacket pockets, where he'd absently put them at some point,  
"Curious set up you have here. A bathtub but no plumbing, candles, more specifically fire…when as Vampire's, we tend to be highly flammable. And a very comfortable bed…for someone who doesn't sleep…?" he said quietly but never looked away from Kai.  
"What would you rather I did? Toss Mr Pavlov's bones from his stone box and spend my day time in there?" he said, standing stock still, hands in his long coat pockets and the black silk shirt he wore reflected the candlelight as well.

Tala didn't say anything, he almost didn't have enough guts to look Kai in the eye.  
"I have to buy water and boil it, to take a bath." He added and it made Tala feel better, Kai was not cold, he was just still a little angry, "…and fire wont incinerate us. We can survive a fire, so long as he get out or away from it fast enough…" he mumbled.  
Tala nodded and then swallowed,  
"I'm sorry about yesterday…I was foolish. I know it, acting like a child." He admitted, he'd dropped his gaze but then he looked back up to Kai hoping for a response.  
"You've changed clothes." He commented.  
Tala nodded,  
"Yeah, I went to the Dacha to look for you, waited an hour before I panicked and came looking for you, so I changed and stuff."

Kai tilted his head when Tala said 'panicked', but he didn't comment in it, still standing there.  
"Did you…last night?" he was vague.  
Tala felt the question could go either way, screw or feed, so he rounded it up,  
"I didn't do anything at all, I went to my parents home in the city suburbs and stayed there all night and all day today." He made sure Kai knew he wasn't lying, looking him straight in the eyes.

But surely Kai knew…surely he could smell blood…or anything else. Tala didn't really know about the 'anything else'.  
Feeling bad all over again he sighed,  
"I'm sorry Kai, I was acting out…angry because you rejected me, because of what happened."  
"I did not reject you." Kai said stoically and finally moved, walking swiftly with quick strides passed Tala as he removed his coat.

Tala turned around to see him toss it over a chair in the corner near the bed,  
"You didn't reject me…you rejected the other side of me. The side I'm still too weak to control…"  
Kai didn't say anything and kept his back faced to Tala as he stood facing his bed.  
Tala frowned,  
"I truly am sorry, I don't want you to avoid me like this…by staying away from me, from the Dacha. Please Kai…?" Tala took a short step forward but didn't go too close to Kai, he looked as if he'd tensed when Tala mentioned he'd been avoiding him.  
"You shouldn't be here…" Kai said quietly.  
Tala felt deflated at the words after his apology but he nodded to himself since Kai couldn't see it,  
"If that's what you want…" he said quietly and turned to leave, glancing at Kai's back one last time before starting to walk away.  
"I don't want you to go, Tala." Kai's words stopped him and he turned back around just before the stairs, "…I'm not avoiding you because of our argument yesterday either." He added and turned around and looked at Tala, who stared at him openly.  
"I was thinking that it'd be safer for you if they couldn't track me to get to you." He walked forward and Tala did as well,

"Who? Why would they do that…you said they were to focused on the nest?" he enquired, as they stopped two feet apart, Kai looked much calmer.  
He shook his head and his blue bangs swayed a bit, his eyes sincerely sad as he looked at Tala,  
"This is too dangerous, I don't want you to die for this cause…it's not your fight."  
"I don't want you to die at all…well...you know what I mean…" Tala said awkwardly, since Kai was dead anyway, "…and this is my fight." He insisted.  
"No it's not, the Vampire who killed your parents was unrelated to the nest and he is dead." Kai insisted back.  
Tala frowned,  
"I know that, I mean my fight because it was what my parents wanted Kai, I want to do this for them."

"You want to die for them? You'd barely been alive for very long before I got you killed and turned! What I've given you is not a gift but immortality is some compensation for my mistake and now you want to lose that too!" he was actually speaking very loudly, almost yelling at Tala.  
But the red head just shook his head defiantly,  
"That was not all your fault, the only thing you did wrong was lie to me about what you were. Going to that nest was my fault and I think maybe some part of me had a death wish because it was either that or serious stupidity and I'd rather not think myself so retarde-…"  
"This is not a joke, its not a question of whether your smart or brave or moral Tala, the finality of mortal death can be wavered by magic or the undead…but an immortal death is not as impossible as it sounds and it truly is final. I cannot bring you back from that…" he said sternly.

Tala shook his head again,  
"I don't intend to die, I'm not at a disadvantage like I was before, I'm stronger…stronger than most of them you said, more physically able and-…" he tried to defend but Kai's rage welled up and his eyes turned their bloody color,  
"…against Brian your nothing but a willing victim…" he said darkly.  
Tala blinked at the sudden change in Kai,  
"…I agreed, I told you I wouldn't fight him, I wouldn't even stick around if he confronted me. Why are you bringing this up again, why are you so angry…Kai?" he asked when he saw Kai's eyes avert to the ground and his breathing increase.

He looked lost in dark thoughts and he was, Kai's mind started spinning remembering Brian's words…of what he'd do to Tala, what he'd take from Tala just for the sake of taking something from Kai.  
Just because they'd always been in such deranged completion years ago before Kai left that life.  
A stupid youthful game.  
To always try to take what the other possessed. Get a hunt first, get a whore first, get a weak Vampire first.  
Killing games.

It was once a game to Kai but it had long since stopped being one, he'd told Brian that years ago when he was in the nest, that he would no longer bother with such trivial pacts for fun, playing the bad guy but not willing to bend more rules than necessary for his cause at the time.  
But Brian didn't care, he still played. If Kai disliked a vampire, Brian would challenge him to who could kill it first. If it were a duo hunt, the likes of which Kai entertained but never partook in feeding from as hard as it was, Brian would challenge who would kill it first. There was Rei, who Kai had taken an entirely basic liking to as company, Brian had seen this and challenged Kai to who would screw Rei first.

On all accounts…Brian had won. Kai had not played that game anymore…he was not that animal.

And he hadn't cared for any of the things Brian had challenged him for…until now. Tala…he cared for Tala in ways he had long since abandoned in himself, it was all at the surface now and he didn't want to lose Tala…  
It was a whole new game, the stakes were as high as they came and the challenge was who would kill who first.  
It was Brian or Kai. And Kai couldn't lose…not when Tala was at stake.  
"Kai…Kai?" Tala was speaking and a hand on Kai's shoulder brought him back from his thoughts.

He looked at Tala's pale blue eyes, a slight confused frown on his face.  
Kai licked his lips and let his eyes slowly take in Tala's slim facial features, his skin was ashen but soft and his hair, wind tousled and day worn, sat above his head lightly in its devil horn shape, his bangs and some stray hair falling against the sides of his face, cheeks and against his neck.  
What would Brian do to something so stunningly beautiful?

Kai leaned forward and pressed his lips to Tala's forehead gently as his hands came up and he held Tala's neck, his thumbs lightly stroking Tala's jaw as he pulled back and tilted Tala's head, seeing Tala's eyes open wider slowly, still clear blue but Kai knew if Tala could…he'd be blushing,  
Like he had in his innocence before this curse was passed onto him.

As he stared down into Tala's calm sweet face, he felt Tala's hands at his abdomen, thin fingers curling into the smooth material of his shirt as he gripped what little he could of Kai right then.  
Kai leaned his head forward again and Tala's eyes lowered to Kai's mouth, he didn't kiss Tala though, he lingered watching Tala wet his lips as his eyes threatened to close.

Kai's only uncertainty was whether it was actually Tala who wanted this or just the darkness inhabiting his body…but when Tala looked back up with pale blue eyes, pleading with Kai in the most intimate and subtle way, he no longer hesitated.  
When he kissed Tala he did so without holding back, pressing his lips firmly against Tala's. He did not complain or hesitate.

* * *

_**(This scene has been removed in accordance with FF guidelines. For the full uncensorec chapter please see my profile and follow the AO3 link)**_

* * *

Everything fell away. It was just the feeling of Kai…safety…life, even as it didn't flow through his veins.

Tala was happy.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: This chapter has been edited, please follow AO3 link on FF profile for uncensored chapter**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

It was most likely day time but inside the crypt day time was not relevant, the candles still burned and the light was still a faint relaxing glow, flickering from occasional breezes slipping into the room from the broken door.  
It was hours later and yet merely and hour after they'd finally spent themselves.

They lay facing each other closely, sharing quiet small kisses and more deep and intimate ones. The sheets covered them partially, Tala's legs were entangled with Kai's, his one arm bent between them while the other was around Kai's mid torso. Kai's one arm was above their heads and the other was wrapped around Tala's shoulders, holding him close.

They'd not been talking much but they had been sharing…in a non verbal way.  
Tala was truly happy, he wasn't going to ask Kai what he felt but he hoped the other felt similar, although he truly could not expect much from a Vampire who done it all and seen it all.

What was he compared to that?

He looked down at Kai who had started pressing kisses to his jaw.  
Tala suspected there were a few more rounds in Kai, he had never thought his first time would wind up being his first through thirteenth times. It was perplexing…having not tired after so much…

Tala would have blushed if he could have.

The things he'd been doing these past hours were not things he'd ever imagined himself doing. Kai had certainly taught him a few things after the initial breaking of the ice. He smiled and kissed Kai's cheek just below his eyes, Kai was still kissing over Tala's jaw. Vampire's were insatiable.

Kai kissed Tala's red lips, worn from hours of biting and sucking, Tala's lips were slightly cut from Kai's teeth, but it was no matter, he kissed Kai back anyway.  
Fully aware of Kai's wandering hands slipping along his sides and lower.

Just a minute later Kai was aroused again. Tala shifted and slipped his arms around Kai's back, holding him and kissing his shoulder as Kai kissed at his bruised neck, adding to the bites and spots that blemished his pale flesh.  
"Kai…" Tala said just before Kai bit his cheek lightly.  
"Hn?" Kai licked over the reddened skin as he pressed his body against Tala's flush.  
"What will happen after we attack the nest?" he felt Kai stopped its ministrations near his ear and then Kai leaned above him on his elbows.

Tala let his hands smooth over Kai's back as he looked up at him with pale but soft blue eyes.  
"…if we live, there'll be some vengeful survivors. Angry Vampires who believed we ruined their mini apocalypse. But it wont be anything we cant handle." Kai spoke quietly and he leaned to one side so he could run a hand through Tala's hair.  
Kai had never felt so drawn to something, in his past this sort of closeness never occurred, it was usually sex and death…for the unfortunate victim. Even sex with his own kind had never felt like this…with Tala he wanted to hold him, kiss him.  
He really wanted to have what he'd never had…  
A real partner…a real relationship. A real love.  
"I meant…will you leave after the nest?" Tala's voice brought him back from his distant thoughts, he'd coiled some of Tala's long since fallen hair around his finger during his thinking. He looked at Tala seriously as he felt the hair around his finger with his thumb,  
"If you'd like me to."  
"No…" Tala said quickly and leaned up to kiss the underside of Kai's chin, "…I don't want you to. I want you to…stay." He admitted quietly.  
"Then why do you ask?" Kai let the hair uncoil as he leaned above Tala again.

Tala blinked,  
"Because…I cant think of a reason you'd want to stay."  
"You cant think of any reason…?" Kai's amused expression told Tala he was being a smart ass.  
"Besides sleeping with me…you've had experience I don't even want to think about, isn't fair that I don't think I'd be as of much interest to you…after too long. Forever…is a long time." Tala sighed and looked away from Kai, which was hard since the man was laying on top of him.  
"Doesn't it strike you as funny…" Kai was smiling, "…how humans, mortals, are so willing to pledge forever to each other, but only because they know they could die any day." He looked over Tala's face, affection clearly shining in his wine red gaze, "…and yet, immortals never choose forever…because they know exactly what forever really means." he finished.

Tala nodded at Kai's words,  
"I know what your saying."  
"What am I saying?" Kai was curious.  
"Forever is a long time. I shouldn't expect you-…"  
"I was talking about you." Kai interrupted.  
Tala looked up at him,  
"Me?"  
"Yes…I have already had more than enough time in existence to have defined what it is I want. It's you…who is newly immortal and wholly inexperienced. It is you…who does not yet understand what forever really means." Kai often times slipped into a strange way of speaking where Tala could almost hear some distant traditional way of wording.

And while it was strange to hear him speak that way, what was left of his centuries old Russian accent was that much more pronounced when he spoke like that and it was sexy.  
"…your right…again." Tala admitted, because it was true, he didn't know how he would feel in a year…let alone a few hundred.

Tala understood exactly what he meant but Kai hadn't actually said what he wanted,  
"So…do you want forever…with…someone?"  
Kai looked down at him,  
"Why don't we see if we survive the nest…then we'll talk about it."  
Tala laughed quietly,  
"After so many years and your as vague as a mortal person who doesn't want to commit." He turned his head away from Kai and the blunette took the hint of moved off of Tala, rolling onto the side and leaning on his elbows as he watched Tala get up from the bed.

Kai didn't want to say 'yes' or 'I think I'm in love with you' and be made a fool a few years down the line when someone else came along and Tala decided forever was too long for him. So he'd just have to let Tala think him the bad guy and see how long Tala wanted to stick around.  
"I'd like to be with you if you wanted a specific answer. After everything is over…I'd like us to be together." He was watching Tala pull up his underwear then jeans, remnants of Kai on his thighs and elsewhere having dried.

The red head stopped after he buttoned his jeans and he looked at Kai,  
"I need a shower…I'm going to drive back to the Dacha. Are you staying here or coming?"  
Kai didn't know if Tala didn't believe him or if he was just looking for a different answer, but it didn't matter, he got off the bed and found his pants, pulling it on while he still watched Tala, who was pulling his shirt over his head.  
They dressed in silence and then Kai grabbed the blood supply he had in his little fridge, packing it all into his black back pack while Tala stood neatening his hair and staring at the floor.  
When Kai was ready after pulling his coat on, he blew out the candles, switched off the generator and they left the crypt.

The sun had almost literally just set when they stepped out and Tala watched the last light filtering in the sky disappear from a light navy blue to dark, the clouds were white against a dark backdrop and the air was probably chilly.  
"Where's you bike?" Tala asked, ignoring the sudden onslaught of blood signals he caught wif of once they'd started walking through the grave yard.  
"It's parked off in the city, I don't bring it here. I can't afford to let a human steal it…"  
"Because you'd have to stop them?"  
"No…because it was fucking expensive." Kai said with a shrug.  
Tala was surprised by that answer and he half smiled,  
"You're so strange…" he mumbled, "…so where is it parked?"

"I have a storage room rented in the city, where I keep things I've bought or collected over the years. I have a few family air looms, paintings…that sort of thing. It's been hard to preserve my things and I've lost a lot over the years...but you begin to realize that you cant get attached to perishables and eventually you just forget the value of material things altogether." He stepped over some soft grave sand and Tala did as well, walking at his side.  
"But you've kept paintings…and the bike." He pointed out.

"I can't be photographed…but I can be painted. Without a reflection it's hard to know what you look like…" Kai said distantly, "…especially when it's been as many years as it has."  
Kai made a valid point, Tala still remembered what he looked like because it was fresh in his mind…but after hundreds of years…without seeing your own face…  
"I could sketch you…I'm not exactly an artist but I didn't do too badly when I was in art class, my portraits are ok." He smiled at Kai as they neared the exit of the cemetery.  
"I'd like that…" Kai smiled too and glanced at Tala.

They walked out and both over to Tala's car, he unlocked it –grateful nothing had happened to it after standing in this street for almost 24 hours. Kai was placing the blood in the back seat when he sensed it, he knew Tala sensed it to.  
Kai stood up and his eyes locked on a run down car that pulled up behind where Tala's car was parked, a young guy got out of the car filled with late night partying young people all being noisy and drunk and he walked –or wobbled – over.  
"Eĭ chelovek. U vas yest'zazhigalka ?" (Hey man, do you have a lighter?) he slurred and swayed, his mouth was wet and eyes glazed over and in this district he was probably a junkie.

The question was trivial and Kai knew these people were going to try and rob them –fools- but his problem was not that the boy was reaching into back pocket for some pathetic weapon.  
His problem was having human blood this close to Tala.  
Kai turned to look at Tala seeing how Tala's eyes glazed over.  
"Daĭte mne klyuchi ot mashiny !" (Give me your car keys!) the boy yelled suddenly and his friends got out of the car with their equally over ambitious courage and their useless knives.

Kai had glanced at the boy when he yelled and he saw the boys face pale, hands shaking as the knife dropped and clattered on the pavement, he back stepped.  
"Jesus!" he half shouted but Tala grabbed his throat and lifted him off the ground in seconds.  
The others had all backed off too, uttering and screaming in shock at Tala's revealed Vampire state, fangs bared and face contorted, his pupils practically disappearing in his iris's.

Tala growled and lowered the boy, bring him closer but still restricting any noise from leaving his throat as he turned red, pale and then slowly blue at the mouth.  
"Control yourself." Kai's voice pierced Tala's divine blood induced reverie.  
He snarled and glanced at Kai,  
"Fuck you." He said scathingly, words almost a low hiss.  
"Control." Kai said again, not touching Tala or stopping what he was doing but warning him with his eyes.  
Tala eyes went between Kai and the human, then he let the boy's throat go and grabbed his shoulders, he was dizzy enough that Tala had to hold him up when he pulled him forward to bite.

Kai grabbed the boy from Tala's hold, he landed heavily on the ground but his shock frozen friends didn't move. Tala turned on Kai but the blunette backhanded him hard enough that his head snapped to the side and he tasted his own blood.  
"Don't be a fucking animal…" Kai threatened.  
Tala's eyes narrowed on Kai and then he looked back at the boy regaining his ground slowly and getting up, his friends had been trying to coax him to get up quietly as if they couldn't hear them.

Kai grabbed Tala by his front coat and shook him, making him look at Kai and grab his wrists angrily but Kai held fast,  
"Look at me…" Kai shook him again, ignoring the humans scrambling back into the car, "...Tala…" he insisted and the Vampire in Tala looked at him with dangerous anger.

Vampires never lost awareness. They're blood lust was just very intense but like Vampires who always fed and could control themselves easier around humans, Tala had to stay in the game, he didn't need humans.  
The car sputtered, rattled and screeched away, one of the people screaming something about god and demons.  
But Kai kept his eyes on Tala's and he saw Tala calm down as the car turned out of site.  
"That was good…you could have fought me, but you didn't." Kai smiled and Tala remained in that state as he stared back.

Kai smiled and leaned in, kissing Tala even as he stood in his revealed state, he kissed Tala for a minute and then pulled back, placing a kiss to Tala's slightly ridged brow.  
"Let's go…I still have to get my bike." Kai ran a hand over Tala's cheek and neck and then took the car keys from Tala's coat pocket and walked round to the drivers side.  
Tala did as told and sat in the passenger seat as Kai started the car and drove along the street, Tala's face slowly slipped back into its usual mortal appearance and he glanced at Kai.

He was stunned to have been kissed when he was in that form…he had thought it would disgust Kai.  
"You kissed me…"  
Kai glanced at him,  
"…I've done a lot of that." Kai said in his smart ass way.  
"You kissed me when I was like that…how could you?" he turned to look at the other as they drove on the high way ramp, Tala blinking a bit when his senses were again loaded with blood scents.  
"Did it bother you?"  
"Doesn't it bother you?"  
Kai shook his head,  
"No…" he answered with no other explanation.  
"…how come?"  
Kai seemed uncomfortable with the question but he answered anyway,  
"…I'm a Vampire…my own kind is as attractive to me as a mortal might be."  
"So you have been with vampires." Tala had asked that before and Kai had ignored him.  
Kai's jaw tensed,  
"Yes."  
"Yet…they disgust you?" he frowned.  
Kai didn't want to tell Tala how long it had actually been since he'd had sex before the night they'd slept together, so he just sighed,  
"I've told you before that there was a time when I did what I wanted Tala…" he mumbled.  
"It's actually…" Tala placed his hand on Kai's hand where it was on the steering wheel, "…better. I was worried that my lack of control…turning into that would…put you off." He admitted.  
Kai looked at their hands and shifted his so he could take Tala's hand in his own, doing something he'd never done before, he kissed Tala's hand and knuckles,  
"No…it doesn't put me off…" he reiterated.

Tala was silent for a moment after Kai let his hand go and changed lanes, he suddenly felt very sad.  
"Kai…I hope we live through this." He mumbled audibly.  
Kai didn't say anything but his tightened fists on the steering told Tala that either he was determined…or unsure.

* * *

Kai hit the wall back first and ducked his head to the side causing Tala's fist to make contact with the brick wall of the basement. Tala barely registered it since Kai's hand grabbed the back of his head and hit it against the same wall.

Tala still didn't falter, he kicked out to the side, hands on the wall, he caught Kai in his abdomen pushing him backward, Tala pushed off the wall.  
He went at Kai with punch after punch, most missing some connecting and all consistently returned, neither of them needed to stop to rest. Tala kicked Kai's knee just when Kai hit him with a stiff upper cut and he stumbled backward.

Kai tripped him, dropping low and knocking him clean off his feet.  
He hit the ground and flipped himself back up, turning into a spin kick that whipped Kai's head to the side, followed by another spin kick, also knocking Kai off balance.

Kai ducked a third advance and palmed Tala's sternum forcefully pushing him backward and then he balanced and kicked Tala upward, foot under his jaw. Tala was pissed this time when he was knocked backward but he dropped into a back arch and caught Kai with two kicks under his jaw as his legs came over, knocking Kai off balance again.

Tala landed in a half bent position but steadily and Kai licked his lips, smirking as he rubbed at his jaw with his hand,  
"You're faster…" Kai said in an impressed tone.  
"Maybe your just slower…" Tala said nastily.  
Kai frowned,  
"Or your just running on incentive…what's got you so aggravated?" he enquired as he stretched his arms above his head.

"Oh...I don't know…impending doom, cravings to drink human blood, hundreds of vampires to fight…" Tala said sarcastically, with a flippant wave of his hand to make his point.  
Kai raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

It had been a week since the two of them had been together in Kai's crypt, back at the Dacha they'd fallen into their routine of training in the night and in the day time they talked strategy. Kai had told Tala the exact layout of the actual nest below the old basement of the library.

He'd given Tala a general knowledge fill of the way his grandfather fought, if he did at all, how most Vampires usually scrapped but sometimes they knew some stuff and again reminded him vehemently not to get into a confrontation with Brian.  
They'd talked about being stealthy and how it might be easier to slip in now they were both Vampires. Kai again insisted they don't go together because he knew Brian would smell him once he was actually at the ledge of the nest…but Tala was adamant that that wasn't happening again.  
He wasn't getting left alone again.

It had led to a small disagreement and Kai had eventually just left the kitchen, where they drank hot blood and talked over piles of Vampire information on the kitchen table. That had been two days ago.

"So you wanna go at night again?" Tala sparked up their last conversation from where it should have gone that day, minus the Brian factor.  
Kai nodded,  
"Yeah…this time we have to worry about our vulnerability as well…"  
"If we go in the day…none of them can flee easily…" Tala pointed out.  
"That doesn't help us Tala, I may be alive after so many years of doing this…but I've never taken on a nest that big. Enough Vampires are bound to kill us before we can really make a dent or get to Voltaire." Kai stated, already irritated with the conversation.  
He had told Tala his grandfather's name at some point

Tala was being very stubborn, trying to go against everything Kai knew better.  
"Maybe we should just get explosives and blow the place." He said nonchalantly.  
Kai put his hands on his hips and he sighed before leaving, walking away and up the stairs out of the basement.

Tala rolled his eyes,  
"I'm kidding!" he shouted and tossed the wooden training stick he'd been fiddling with onto the floor before following Kai up and out.  
He walked faster to catch up and saw Kai disappear upstairs onto the second floor of the house.

He went up two steps at a time and grabbed Kai's arm just before he could go into the room, Kai stopped and turned to look at Tala's hand on his arm,  
"I said I'm kidding…I know its best to do it your way." He let go of Kai's forearm.  
Kai tilted his head,  
"Then why do you insist on saying things against it?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.  
Tala shrugged,  
"Because it just seems like everything you plan is to make things easier on me. I'm not as fragile as I was before." He said, trying not to sound irritated with Kai's mollycoddling.

Kai said nothing for a moment because he knew Tala was right.  
"I want to protect you."  
"And that's nice and all…but I have to help you."  
"I could do it alone."  
"And very probably die."  
"You're not exactly the fucking terminator."  
"You know the terminator?"  
"Of course."  
"I didn't think you watched movies."  
"When I'm bored."  
"Where?"  
"What do you mean where?"  
"…do you watch movies?"  
"In the theaters."  
"With humans?"  
"I go on weekdays…its empty."  
"Hah…"  
"Why are you looking at me like that."  
"Because your weird."  
"What do you expect me to do, brood on dark cliffs or in the shadows all the time?"  
"Well…"  
"Like in the movies, Tala?"  
"…was Lestat a real Vampire?"  
"He is a real Vampire."  
"The Lestat?"  
"What do you mean the Lestat?"  
"I mean…famous, gorgeous Lestat, legendary Vampire."  
"Legendary? And he's not gorgeous…"  
"He's really real?"  
"I know a Lestat…I don't know who your talking about, someone fictional?"  
"Ann Rice?"  
"…is she a Vampire from modern fiction too?"  
"…you know its probably not the same as the books…"  
"Definitely not."  
"But is he good looking?"

"What? I'm curious…"  
"About whether another Vampire is attractive?"  
"…jealous?"  
"…he's real…how do I know if you meet him you wouldn't…"  
"I wouldn't."  
"That's a sure answer."  
"I am sure."  
"Good…"

Tala smiled at Kai's small cute frown and he urged himself to make a move since Kai had made none since their first –and several more- times together that night.

He stepped forward and hesitantly raised his arms, placing his hands on Kai's upper arms, feeling the definition of his biceps, since his arms were crossed over his chest.  
"There's no way Lestat is as good looking as you…" he tried to be confident and say something flirty.  
"…is that all it is, because I'm attractive to you?"

Tala removed his hands at Kai's hostile tone,  
"No…I didn't mean it like that." He looked away, feeling annoyed and put down, "…I was trying to be flirty…"  
"Why are you flirting?" Kai asked plainly.

Tala sighed,  
"Because that's how people get another persons attention." He stated blandly.  
"But you already have my attention, we're talking."  
"Your other attention…" Tala grumbled and looked at the floor.  
Kai didn't say anything.

But Tala looked up when Kai's arms came around him, under his arms and around his waist, pulling him close and pressing their bodies together,  
"You don't need to flirt with me…" he kissed the side of Tala's face with a naughty grin.

Tala didn't know how come such a sweet kiss made him feel so intensely needy but he felt the heat in his body spark at the touch.  
"It's because I don't know whether you'd be okay with me…being close to you. You haven't even seemed interested." He mumbled back as he put his arms around Kai's neck and pressed his face there.

Kai laughed quietly, this was what he enjoyed…what he loved about Tala.  
That need, the sweetness, the insecurities…as long as Kai kept Tala in touch with his humanity eventually Tala would be that way all on his own, not losing sight or feel of living breathing feelings, but adapting to both sides of himself, demon and dead mortal.  
"I only stayed away because you were upset after last time…" he admitted and walked Tala backwards in the hall until he was pressed up against the wall opposite the room door.  
"I wasn't that upset." He mumbled and looked into Kai's eyes when the blunette pulled away from his neck and hair to look at him,  
"Your welcome to make advances on me anytime you like…" Kai smirked and licked the side of Tala's mouth lightly, trailing over Tala's bottom lip and when his lips parted as expected.

He didn't hesitate to ravage Tala's mouth as he pressed him against the wall and brought his hands up to run along Tala's sides and over the arms linked around his neck, then back down. He felt Tala press forward against him and a hand grabbed a tighter hold of his hair making the red head dizzy at the feeling.

Tala grabbed Kai's training tank shirt and pushed him backwards, they moved into the bedroom, bumping the door fully open and kissing all the way to the bed where Kai's tank shirt came over his head and it was followed by Tala's T shirt.  
When they were at the bed Kai pulled back, grabbing Tala's arm, he tossed him roughly on to the bed and grabbed the waist of his training pants, pulling it down and off, over Tala's socked feet.

* * *

**M Rated Scene Removed**

* * *

Tala smiled and then grimaced, rubbing a palm to his shoulder where he'd been bitten and he sighed when he felt the dried but sticky blood caking around two neat wounds.

He'd remembered the previous bites, this one would heal half way by the morning probably.  
When he sat up he was surprised however to find that his butt hurt a bit, Kai hadn't been too gentle but Tala had really enjoyed it.  
He enjoyed Kai, everything about him.  
He didn't know if he loved him…but he was sure he felt more than just basic attraction.  
He hoped they lived through what was to come.

He really could see something like forever with the bluenette…even if it did seem just a tad silly.


End file.
